Waging Tails
by Xxx-Aka-Ketsueki-xxX
Summary: What if Kiba was a girl? And the Rookie Nine were put on different teams? How much would this change the course of Naruto's life as a shinobi? Rated M for language, violence, and lemons later on... maybe.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hello all. This was a challenge given to me byJreamkage10, so half of the credit goes to him. Hope you enjoy!**

"Normal Voice"

_"Thoughts"_

**

* * *

**

"Hehehehehe...!" A twelve-year old Naruto couldn't stop himself from chuckling. He had just become a fully-pledged shinobi today! He also learned a new jutsu called 'Kage-Bunshin no Jutsu'. He's become one step closer to becoming Hokage! What's even better is that he actually kicked Mizuki's ass, who was a Chuunin! A freakin' Chuunin! And he himself hasn't even become a shinobi until after that! That can only mean one thing-

_"If Mizuki was so easy to beat, imagine how easy the rest of these punks are! I think I may be the best in the class right now!" _

"...Naruto? The hell are you doing here? This classroom is only for people who have received a Hitai-ate and have become a shinobi!" One of his classmates say to him, interrupting him from his thoughts. Naruto snaps his head at the student and smiles broadly.

"Hehehe! I know! Can't you see the thing around my forehead? Why do you think I'm here?" Naruto responds, ignoring the student's attitude towards him. Before the boy can retort anything else at Naruto, a female voice interrupts them both.

"HI SASUKE-KUN!"

_"Great. Another screaming Sasuke-fan came into the room." _Naruto grumbles in his head, while glaring at the pink-haired banshee. He whips his head over toward said Uchiha, who was sitting a chair away from him, and sneers at the occupied, but calm expression on his face while his hands are folded underneath his chin. _"Fucking teme. There's no one on this earth who I hate more than him! He thinks he's hot shit...with his 'cool' attitude, his thousands of screaming fans, and his smarts... and whatnot..." _Before Naruto could rant about anything else about his self-proclaimed rival in his head, a blur of pink and red pushes the blond out of his seat to get to Sasuke. Naruto lands on the floor hard. As he gets up from the ground, he wonders what the hell that was that pushed him. But he finds the answer to his question when he sees a giddy Sakura standing beside Sasuke, who was trying his best not to pay any attention to her.

"Hee-hee-hee! Hello, Sasuke-kun! Would you mind if I sit next to y-?"

"Yes, I would." Sasuke grunts out. Sakura shows a bit of disappointment on her face for a mere second, but then smiles before trying her luck again.

"Aww, come on Sasuke-kun! Wh-"

"Don't waste your time, Pinky." Grunts out an irritable blonde. "If the teme doesn't want you to sit next to him, then nothing you'll say is going to make him change his mind." Naruto adds. Sakura glares at the young Jinchuuriki and Sasuke looks at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Why don't you mind your business, Naruto? I don't recall anyone talking to you, ya know!" Sakura replies hardheartedly, putting her hands on her hips. Naruto stands up from his seat and steps closer to Sakura.

"Yeah, well I was talking to you! Leave the ignorant bastard alone, will ya? It's not like he's actually going to fall for you one day, so you're just wasting your time! I'm trying to help _you_ out, for Kami's sake!" Naruto retorts. Sakura grimaces.

"Hmph. You're just jealous that you're nowhere near as attractive as Sasuke-kun. Every girl here would easily say the same thing." Sakura counters. But before Naruto gets the chance to retaliate, someone else speaks up for him.

"Ha! I beg to differ." The blonde and pinkette hear from their side. They both turn their heads to the source of the voice and spots a girl with a small white and brown Great Pyrenees snuggled in her lap. The first noticeable trait about this female are the red fang markings in both sides of her face. The next things are her vertically slitted pupils, and her long, but wild-looking brown hair that stops at the middle of her back in a ponytail. Even though she seems to have a few... feral-like traits, this young lady was truly beautiful, despite the intimidating look on her face. She's also wearing a loose-fitting, gray, hooded sweater that also has black fur attached to the sleeves and hood. She wasn't wearing the hood at the moment, and her hitai-ate is wrapped around her neck. She was also wearing dark, ankle-high shinobi pants, her kunai holster wrapped around her left thigh.

"I'd take Blondie over there over that fucking Uchiha any day." The young brunette finishes with a quick glare in said Uchiha's direction. Sasuke rolls his eyes and scoffs at the brunette, returning his attention back to his own thoughts regarding how to have himself become an only child. Both Sakura and Naruto were looking at this girl with wide eyes, but for different reasons. "What? I just don't have a thing for arrogant assholes. Especially ones that have hair in the shape of a bird's ass." she adds.

Sakura's jaw was almost touching the ground.

And so was Naruto's.

But for different reasons.

"Wh... You... How... Wh...?" Sakura sputtered. The Inuzuka rolled her eyes.

"You know, if you'd like to actually pronounce whole words, it'd be a lot more helpful." she said flatly. Right before Sakura could come up with a comeback, the door to the classroom opened, with their sensei, Iruka Umino strolled through the door, a scroll in his hand.

"Alright class, take your seats. It's time to announce the Genin teams you each will be placed in." he said with a casual smile. Everyone, including Naruto and Sakura, hurried to their seats to hear the announcement of the teams that they'll be on. And Kami knows who Sakura wants to be paired up with...

"Okay, since we don't have much time to waste, I'll just get right on with it. Team One will consist of..." Iruka read from the scroll he brought in. Teams One through Six have been called out after a couple of minutes. But once Team Seven was about to being called out...

"Team Seven will consist of... Haruno Sakura," Sakura perked up and looked at her teacher anxiously.

_"Please be Sasuke-kun,__ please be Sasuke-kun, __please be Sasuke-kun...!"_ Sakura chanted in her head with crossed fingers.

"Uchiha Sasuke,"

"YES!" Sakura shouted.

Sasuke sighed.

"And Yamanaka Ino."

"WHAT!"

Sasuke and Iruka sighed.

"And Team leader will be Hatake Kak-"

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN I'LL BE ON A TEAM WITH _HER_?" Sakura and Ino roared simultaneously, pointing their fingers at their rival. If anyone in this class wasn't aware of Sakura's and Ino's rivalry, one might assume that they rehearsed synchronized arguing.

Iruka ignored their outbursts and simply told them to talk to him after class. Still angry, but didn't put up any further argument, Sakura and Ino sat back down into their seats. Satisfied, Iruka continued.

"Right. Now, Team Eight will consist of... Uzumaki Naruto," Naruto sat up and paid close attention to Iruka. "Hyuuga Hinata," Naruto looked over to one of the few people that wasn't hostile to him. She was very nice from what he could tell... if not, a little weird. Every time he'd try to talk to her, she'd turn red and either faint, or run away. He had enough knowledge to know that she wasn't doing it out of fear. So why would she behave like that? Was it him, or just her? Girls are weird...

"And Inuzuka Kaori." Iruka announced. Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"Inuzuka Kaori? Who's that?" Naruto asked as he looked around the classroom. The same brunette that (sort of) complimented Naruto earlier looked at him from a few seats away. She gave him a slight nod in his direction.

"Right here, Blondie." she called out. Naruto didn't know what to make of her at the moment. She seemed like a non-hostile person, although the intimidating look on her face would say otherwise. And since she openly said that she would prefer him over that Uchiha, Naruto would consider her to be a best friend out of anyone else his age due to that one comment.

So for that reason, he smiled and waved back.

"And Team leader will be... Yuuhi Kurenai." Iruka finished. "Now, Team 10 will consist of Nara Shikamaru, Akimichi Chouji, and Aburame Shino. Team Leader will be Sorutobi Asuma." Iruka finished. "Now, is there any questions? Feel free to ask." he said after slipping the note into his pocket. Iruka sees Naruto's raised hand, along with Ino's and Sakura's, but he already knew what they wanted. "Yes, Naruto?"

"Iruka-Sensei, how come there's no Team Nine in this class?" he asked.

"Oh, Team Nine graduated last year. They were here a year before the rest of you were, so that's probably why you've never seen, or even heard of them." he answered. Naruto thought for a minute before nodding.

"Anymore questions?" Sakura and Ino both stood up from their seats, raising their hands up as high as they could. Iruka sighed and shook his head. "Sakura, Ino, I told you two to wait until after I dismiss everyone." The two rivals reluctantly sat back down and put their hands at their sides. "Alright, now you guys can have an hour-long lunch break and are to report back here for your sensei's to pick you up. Class dismissed." As soon as Iruka said those words, two blurs of blonde and purple, and red and pink rushed across the classroom to Iruka.

Naruto stood up from his seat and walked over to where Kaori was gathering her things.

"So your name's Naruto, huh?" she said without even looking in his direction. Naruto was a bit taken back at how she knew he was right there. He didn't think he made much noise when he approached her, and she was even looking in the opposite direction from him.

"Y-Yeah. How'd you know I was here?" Naruto questioned. Kaori grinned and turned around to look at him. She then pointed to her small nose.

"My clan is notorious for their keen sense of smell. I can make my sense of smell a thousand times better than any humans, so I can track you by your scent." she boasted. Kaori then crinkled her nose. "You sure could use a bath, though."

Naruto looked at her for a second before lifting his arm to smell his armpit. Naruto flinched at the smell then smiled sheepishly at his new teammate, rubbing the back of his head.

"Hehehe, yeah... sorry about that." Naruto apologized. "Um... anyway, I was kinda hoping that we could all get lunch together as a new team. How does that sound?"

Kaori thought for a minute, "... Are you treating?"

"Yeah."

"Then alright, let's go!"

* * *

_"I get to go on a team with Naruto-kun?"_ the violet-haired princess thought. _"And for some strange reason, I was half-expecting him to be paired up with Sakura-san_..._" _she then looked over to where Naruto was sitting, only to find him and her other new teammate walking over to her.

"Hey, Hinata. Since we're going to be a team, I figured it'd be nice to get lunch and get to know each other. It's my treat." Naruto offered. "Wanna join us?"

"Um... Sure. I'd love to, Naruto-san."

* * *

"IRUKA-SENSEI!"

Iruka had the incredible urge to hide from the two children running toward him. But how would it look if he hid from a couple of twelve year-olds? So Iruka just stood there and sighed, ready to face his tribulation.

"Girls, first off, let me say that I'm not the one that chooses the individuals to be on each team. That's the Hokage's job. I just send him reports of your progress in class; you're strengths and weaknesses, and he pairs you up with other shinobi that can help you improve upon your weaknesses." Iruka explained before they got a chance to scream at him. They then give him a puzzled look, which flashed back to their previous enraged ones.

"What weakness can I possibly improve on through working with _her_? I don't like her!" Ino exclaimed to Iruka while pointing a finger at Sakura, which in response caused Sakura to glare at her. Iruka sighed.

"That's the precise reason _why_ you two were paired up. In my reports, I informed the Hokage of both of your rivalries with each other. Whether he wants you both to work together to end your rivalries, or to use your rivalries to motivate you to do better, I don't know. But its for those two reasons you both were paired up together. And the reasons why you're paired up with Sasuke, is because the Hokage feels that your infatuation with him is greatly hindering you both from reaching your maximum potential, and through guidance of your new sensei, Hatake Kakashi, he'll help you both get over it and start taking your lives as kunoichi more seriously." Iruka took a deep breath. "Does that answer your questions, girls?"

Sakura and Ino were still pouting, but nodded.

* * *

Over across the other side of the classroom, Chouji met up with his best friend, Nara Shikamaru and was attempting to wake him up from his slumber.

"Hey, Shika. Wake up, class is dismissed." he said lightly, shaking his arm. Shikamaru rose out of his sleep, lifted his head up, and looked at Chouji tiredly, rubbing the crust out of his eyes.

"Mgh... Really...? So who's on my team? Please tell me it wont be our fathers' 'Ino-Shika-Cho' team again..." Shika groaned. Chouji sent him a small smile.

"Well... you're half right. Its more like we're gonna have a '_Shino_-Shika-Cho' team." The large child replied. Shikamaru let out a breath of relief. He knew Ino would _definitely _be a nousance, he's seen it for himself more than a couple of times, if she was to be on his team. His father, Shikaku, had mercilessly nagged him to death about the new generation and formation of the 'Ino-Shika-Cho Trio', and sure this might disappoint him, but Shikamaru feels he'll live. Chouji was Shikamaru's best friend, so that in no way bothered him. And Shino was okay, if not a little mysterious, but Shika was sure they would get along fine. Besides. Women were troublesome, anyway.

"Wait, who's our sensei?" The Shadow Manipulator asked. Chouji shrugged.

"I dunno, some guy named Sorutobi Asuma." Chouji stated before resuming to his bag of chips. It was then that they both noticed a figure in a white coat approach them.

"Hello. Since we're going to paired in a team together, I figured it would be wise to have lunch to familiarize ourselves with each other. Cooperation and friendship is essential to form a successful team." Shino stated with one hand in his pocket, the other adjusting his glasses, then returning to his other pocket. There was a pregnant pause between the three genin, before Shikamaru spoke up.

"Sounds good. So who's treating?"

"..."

"..."

"... So I guess I am, huh...? Troublesome..."

* * *

"WHAT! What do you mean you never ate ramen?" Naruto asked incredulously. Kaori just shrugged.

"What I mean is that I never had ramen before. What's so great about it, anyway?" Naruto just sat there bug eyed. He then turned to Hinata.

"Hinata, _please_ tell me you've had ramen at least once!" Naruto asked her with a hopeful look. Hinata looked at him with a slight blush and lightly shook her head.

"Sorry, Naruto-san, but I, um, don't believe I've had ramen before."

Naruto wanted to drop dead. But he knew the exact place where to have lunch now.

"Ah, you guys don't know what you're missing out on! Come on!" Naruto said excitedly, gently grabbing both girls' wrists and began running, forcing them to run in step with him.

"Eep! N-Naruto-san...!"

"H-Hey! Slow down, you baka!"

* * *

An hour later, each team had lunch together and gotten to know each other well... save for Team Seven, since Sakura and Ino knew each other plenty, and Sasuke didn't want to bother getting to know his two irritating teammates.

Team Eight was the first to arrive back to the classroom to meet their sensei's, followed by Team Ten. All of the other teams had arrived after them, then last, but certainly not least, Team Seven entered. Naruto had to hold back the urge to tell the two female rivals to shut the hell up over a guy that wasn't even worth their time, and succeeded. Barely.

But now, he was just chatting with Hinata and Kaori, mainly bragging about their reactions towards having their first bowl of Ichiraku ramen. Kaori tried to hide it, but her reaction made it clear that ramen was one of the best things she's ever eaten before. She almost had the same amount of bowls that Naruto had, and considering Naruto's huge appetite, that was saying something.

As for Hinata, she sighed happily as her taste buds were appreciating the mix of flavors that were enveloping around them. Naruto made sure to see her reaction, and laughed heartily when he did. Hinata had three bowls, which was practically nothing compared to the amount Naruto and Kaori had, but considering her appetite, she pigged out a bit in her opinion.

As they continued to chat amongst themselves, the door to the classroom opened, and to the slight disappointment of Naruto, Teams Four and Two met with their sensei's and left the classroom.

A few minutes later, a man with short but spiky ebony hair and chinstrap beard, and a woman with mid-length wavy black hair and red eyes entered the classroom. The man was wearing a standard Konoha shinobi outfit, along with a white sash around his waist with a red and black symbol on it that said 'fire' on it in kanji. He was also smoking a cigarette, which Naruto questioned in his head about his logic in doing that in front a bunch of kids.

As for the woman, her eyes are what attracted Naruto's, if not everyone in the classroom's, attention first. They were a deep blood red color with a kind of ring shape in them outside of the pupil. She had on red lipstick and a light shade of purple eyeshadow on her eyelids. Her outfit was something someone would assume consisted of bandages, which were wrapped around her in a sleeveless dress-like fashion which ended mid-thigh, exposing a fair amount of leg, with a long red sleeve attached to her right side. The 'dress' also had a little bit of a low collar, exposing a dark mesh shirt underneath (along with a slight amount of cleavage). She also wore bandages around her hands, all the way up to her elbows, and had her Konoha Hitai-ate around her forehead.

In Naruto's opinion, she was pretty damn hot.

"Alright guys, where's Squad Ten?" The man with the beard asks, looking around the classroom. Shikamaru, Chouji, and Shino all raise their hands. The Jounin smiles slightly and walks over to them. The minute he does so, the red-eyed beauty clears her throat.

"And where's my team; Squad Eight?" she asked.

_"_That's_ supposed to be my sensei? Oh man, I'm gonna have a lot of trouble concentrating on myself with her around!"_ Naruto half-groaned in his head, trying his best not to eyeball the hell out of his new sensei. He and his two female teammates raised their hands to show that they were the team she was looking for. The Jounin then saw this and sent them a smile that made Naruto a bit weak in the knees.

Females must have some kind of special radar inside that tells them _'Danger! There's a prettier female around! Protect all potential territory at all costs!' _inside of them, because both Hinata and Kaori obeyed their urges to see what Naruto's reaction to her looks were, and weren't exactly happy with what they saw. The expression on his face wasn't obvious, but to almost any female that had a hint of jealousy in them, it was clear that Naruto was quite attracted to their new sensei. Hinata decided to not say anything, and hoped that her accusations were off. As for Kaori...

"Hey, blondie. You can put your eyeballs back in your head." Kaori whispered quietly, but firmly. Naruto looked over toward her, with a guilty/innocent face.

"Huh? What are you talking about, Kaori-chan?" he asked. Kaori snarled at Naruto for the adding the '-chan' suffix to her name. While getting more familiar with each other at the ramen bar, Naruto used the '-chan' suffix unconsciously while stating her name. Kaori wasn't angry with him for it, but she stated that she'd prefer him to drop that suffix, due to the fact that it made her name sound _cute_ and Kaori didn't think of herself as such. Hot, sexy, attractive, appealing beautiful (maybe) were all things she would describe herself as, but _cute_ was not on that list. She'd let Hinata have that adjective, and wasn't surprised when Hinata said she didn't mind being called 'Hinata-chan'.

But Kaori just ignored it and returned back to the situation at hand.

"I mean, that I'm sure that she has no problems with undressing herself, so you don't have to do it with your eyes."

"...What!"

"Hello, guys." The three Genin didn't even realize that the older woman walked up to them while Kaori and Naruto were bickering. Their attention then got transferred back to her, especially Naruto's. "My name is Yuuhi Kurenai. I'm sure it'll be nice working with you all."


	2. Chapter 2

"Normal Voice"

_"Thoughts"_

**

* * *

**

_"Ah, man! She even has a beautiful name...!"_ Naruto says in his subconscious, trying to keep cool in front of his new teacher. Kaori can see the struggle on his face, and simply rolls her eyes. She then turns toward Kurenai and gives her an exaggerated smile.

"Why hello, Kurenai-san! It's very pleasing to meet you. My name is Inuzuka Kaori." she greets, hiding her disgust in greeting her so sweetly. She then motions toward Hinata, who hesitantly complies.

"Um... Hello, my name is Hyuuga Hinata. I hope we can all get along..." she says with what _seems_ like a sincere smile. _"Though I highly doubt it..."_ a hidden dark part inside her grumbles. Kaori, who was satisfied with Hinata's greeting, now waits for Naruto to introduce himself. A few seconds of awkward silence pass by and Kaori begins to grow a bit agitated, seeing as he was just sitting there staring at his teacher. She elbows him in the ribs.

"Ow...! Oh, and er... My name is Uzumaki Kurenai... I-I mean, my name is U-Uzumaki Naruto... Hehehe..." Naruto laughs sheepishly, growing a blush similar to Hinata's whenever she gets into her shy persona. Kaori successfully fights back the urge to face-palm herself. Hinata simply sighs a bit to herself.

Kurenai laughs a bit and smiles at her three new students. "Well, so far I have a good impression of all three of you. But for my first assignment, I first request that you all meet me at The Seventh Training Ground. I trust that you all know where it is?" Kurenai asks. Kaori and Hinata both nod their heads, though Naruto hesitantly did it for the single reason that he didn't want to look stupid in front of Kurenai. The ebony-haired Jounin smiles. "Good. I expect to see you all there in less than fifteen minutes; I wont accept tardiness." Kurenai finishes before disappearing in a puff of smoke. Now seeing that Kurenai is no longer around, Kaori drops her fake smile.

"Meh, 'I wont accept tardiness...' Who does she think she is...?" Kaori mocks Kurenai's last words with a distaste in her mouth. Naruto gives Kaori a look.

"Hey, what's your beef with Kurenai-sensei? What did she ever do to you?" he asks. Kaori pauses for a bit.

_"... Why DO I dislike Kurenai? She never really did me any harm... I dunno, there's just something I don't like about her_._" _Kaori finalizes in her head. "She never did anything to me. There's just something I don't like about her, that's all." Kaori says unequivocally. Naruto just stares at her with a cocked eyebrow.

"What don't you like about her?"

"It's a girl thing." Kaori waves him off just as Akamaru wakes up from his slumber, who was sleeping peacefully in Kaori's hood for the whole time. "I'm pretty sure you feel the same way, right Hinata?" she suddenly asks the Juuken user, catching her off guard.

"Wh-Wha? N-No, I don't dislike Kurenai-sensei... She seems fine to me..." Hinata replies modestly, if not, a bit defensively. Though one side of her wanted to openly agree with Kaori, she really didn't want Naruto (or Kaori) to know that she was jealous of Kurenai.

"Eh. Maybe its just me then." Kaori shrugged it off. "But be that as it may, we still have to go to The Seventh Training Ground in a couple of minutes, so we should be on our way." She then smirks at Naruto. "And don't worry it, Naruto. Just follow Hinata and I, because we actually _know_ where it is."

"Hey!"

* * *

"Alright, we're here... so where's our sensei?" asks a baffled female Inuzuka once Team Eight arrives in the middle of the designated training ground. All three members look around the grassy plains, only to find that they were all by their lonesome.

"Are you sure this is the right place?" Naruto asks.

"Yes, I'm sure this is the right place, Naruto." Kaori says with a bit of annoyance in her tone of voice.

"Um, I have my Byakugan, so I can probably see if she's nearby with it." Hinata offers.

"Not a bad idea, Hinata." Kaori compliments. "Please do the honors."

"Okay..." Hinata then forms a one-handed tiger seal. "Byakugan!" she exclaims. Then at that moment, the veins around her temples begin to bulge and her seemingly invisible pupils become a little more distinct. Naruto has seen Hinata like this at the academy during sparring sessions (Koari wasn't in their class at the time; due to being taught in another class with a different teacher) and to this moment, her small, but obvious change in appearance still frightens him slightly.

"So do you see her, Hin- WATCH OUT!" Kaori exclaims right before hastily tackling Naruto and Hinata out of the way from the incoming barrage of kunai and shuriken thrown in their direction. Rolling across the ground, back onto their feet, Naruto and Hinata begin to question why Kaori did such a thing before another shower of kunai rain upon them. This time all three were aware of the sharp projectiles being thrown in their direction, and all jumped in opposite directions to avoid them, splitting them up. As if it were her reflex, Kaori pulls a kunai from her hip pouch, shifting into her defensive, almost beast-like fighting stance. Similarly, Hinata, now alarmed, goes straight into her Juuken stance, looking around for any detectable enemies. Naruto, not having a special clan stance or fighting style simply changes into a basic, mildly sloppy, shinobi stance, kunai gripped in his right hand.

"What in the world...? Akamaru-kun, are you okay?" Kaori asks over her shoulder to her dear furry acquaintance. Akamaru, though slightly shaken up from the sudden change in events, barks hesitantly, but clear enough to know that he's okay.

"What the hell is this all about!" Naruto exclaims, still very much on his toes. Kaori clenches her teeth.

"Tch! I wish I knew... Hinata, do you see anyone?" Kaori shouts in her direction.

"Uh...! Y-Yes, I see three chakra signatures; 26 meters, southeastward!" Hinata hollers, turning in said direction, as do her teammates. They, for the exception of Hinata, can only just vaguely see the figures standing on a tree branch. "Can you see who it is?" Kaori asks, looking at Hinata through the corners of her eyes. Hinata's frightened and disbelieving facial expression was a big tip off to both Naruto and Kaori that who ever they were, they weren't here to just say hello.

"I-I-I... I don't b-believe this...!" Hinata utters out warily.

"Who are they, Hinata!" Naruto calls out. Hinata takes one big gulp.

"You guys aren't going to believe this, but... t-they're-" Suddenly, in a big explosion, a cloud of smoke envelops around the three pre-teens, throwing off Naruto's and Kaori's sense of sight. Hinata still has her Byakugan active, therefor she was able to see through the smoke. But due to being caught up in the surprise of the moment, Hinata didn't have much time to prepare herself from the incoming strike to the face, sending her flying out of the cloud of smoke, along with Naruto and Kaori, who shared the same experience. Naruto, being the first to recover off the ground, he gets up on one knee, struggling to get to his feet. The drop to the ground was pretty hard.

But as he raises his head perpendicular to the ground so that he can see what's up ahead, his vision meets the mid-section of a certain familiar orange jumpsuit. Baffled, he looks up even farther, only to see...

_"Is that supposed to be...me?"_ Of course, Naruto would recognize who the individual wearing that outfit; he looks at him everyday when he looks at his own reflection.

"Wh... What's... Oof!" The sudden kick to the gut immediately knocks all the wind out of the real Naruto's lungs. He hunches over in pain, his face now pressing against the soft grass. Before he gets time to recover, the impostor picks Naruto up by his collar, now meeting him eye to eye. Naruto's vision was blurry, especially since his eyes were half open, but he could make out the image of the look-alike giving him a smug little grin. It didn't take Naruto long to figure out that his two teammates were probably sharing the same fate.

The enemy's face then morphs slowly into Kurenai's smiling face, making Naruto's eyes widen due to many conflicting emotions; Relief? Fear? Bewilderment? The only thing he knew was that he damn sure was confused...

"Not bad for a couple of Genin fresh out of the academy." (Kurenai?) says with a sweet smile. Then, just as Naruto blinks...

He's back in the position he was before Kaori tackled him and Hinata. Only this time, Kurenai Yuuhi was standing directly in front of him, with Kaori and Hinata standing right beside him. He noticed that he felt no more pain, and had the feeling that what the events that just took place were all a big dream. But... it felt so real. He could feel, hear, see, and even smell everything that was happening when he and his team were attacked.

"K-Kurenai-sensei...?" Naruto asked, still unsure whether reality was taking place at the moment or not. Kurenai simply laughed. Beside him, Kaori and Hinata were just as baffled as him, to his relief.

"Whoa. Exactly what the hell happened just now?" Kaori said what her two friends were thinking. Kurenai chuckled.

"Hehe, just consider that a little technique of mine to find out more about you three without actually asking." Kurenai states with a grin. Her grin then falls a bit when she sees that all three of her students still look very bewildered and lost. "Alright, show of hands; who actually knows what happened?"

No one raised their hand.

Kurenai raised an eyebrow, "Well, can you at least guess?" she asked.

"We're all dead and this is what heaven looks like?" Naruto stated the first thought came to mind. Kurenai closed her eyes, hung her head a bit and simply laughed to herself quietly. "What? I was just guessing..." he mumbled upon seeing Kurenai's response.

"Um... was that a Genjutsu that you used on us?" Hinata guessed. Kurenai smiled at her.

"Very good, Hinata. You're correct." Kurenai praised. All three Genin's eyes widened.

"_That_ was a Genjutsu...?" Kaori asked in shock. Kurenai looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah? Didn't they show you what being caught in a Genjutsu was like at the academy?"

"Yeah, but they showed us how to do something small, like change and fix the arrangements of letters in a piece of writing, or something." Kaori answered. Kurenai pinched the bridge between her nose in mild irritation. "Ugh. Why does everyone take Genjutsu so much more lightly than Ninjutsu and Taijutsu? I'm going to have to speak to the Hokage about this..." Kurenai mumbles to herself. She then looked at her three new students. "Well, through doing that to you three, I can now see that none of you aren't exactly naturally excelled in the art of Genjutsu. Because, you see, that was a low ranked Genjutsu technique, nothing higher than a low C-rank. And if you had a knack for Genjutsu, it would have been fairly obvious that you were caught in it."

Hinata, Naruto, and Kaori all sweatdropped simultaneously.

"But don't fret about it. I assure you that by the time you all become Chuunin, that you'll all be able to cast and break out of C-ranked and lower Genjutsu techniques, even some B-ranks." Kurenai said with a smile. This seemed to cheer them up.

"Hey, Kurenai-sensei! What was that technique called anyway?" Naruto called out. Kurenai smiled at the boy.

"I'm glad you asked, Naruto. That technique was called _Demonic Illusion: Vision of the Cursed Mind._ It takes what negative energy you have inside you_, _turns it into an evil counterpart of yourself and turns it against you_. _However, even though it sounds like a fairly effective jutsu, it's easy to break out of if you've had the proper training or if you had a natural affinity for Genjutsu." Kurenai states. Naruto nods his head and sits down on the ground, his knees bent.

"So, if you're a Genjutsu specialist, does that mean that's all we're going to learn?" Naruto asked. Kurenai shook her head.

"No, not at all. Just because I'm a Genjutsu specialist doesn't mean that I'm not pretty fluent in Taijutsu or Ninjutsu. I am a Jounin, after all. And since none of you are Genjutsu specialists anyway, we may not even get into that topic as much as the other two forms of jutsu." Kurenai smiled at the beaming expression on Naruto's face. "Hehe, so I'm guessing that you really want to learn some Ninjutsu and Taijutsu moves as soon as possible, eh Naruto-kun?" Naruto's grin doubled.

"Hehehe yeah! I mainly want to learn Ninjutsu though, because those seem to be the coolest!" Naruto exclaimed.

_"Okay, so with that attitude, I can tell he may be a Ninjutsu specialist. Now what about the other two?"_ Kurenai thinks to herself. She then came up with an idea. "Now that I think about it, I don't think we've properly gotten to know ourselves," Kurenai then sat down on the grass along with Naruto, with the Inuzuka and Hyuuga following right after. "So we'll properly get to know each other by stating our passions, dislikes, goals, and things of that nature. Who wants to go first?" The Jounin asks. A pregnant pause enters between the four before Kaori speaks up.

"Hey Sensei, why don't you go first?" she asks. Kaori is still not too sure whether she's fond Kurenai or not, but this doesn't mean that she's going to hold an attitude towards her. If they were going to be a team, she'll have to get used to being around her, anyway.

Kurenai smiled at Kaori's suggestion and nodded. "Okay then. As you all know, my name is Kurenai Yuuhi. My birthday is June eleventh, and I'm currently twenty-seven years old, if any of you were wondering." Kurenai starts.

_"Wow, she doesn't look to be that old. She looks as if she's only a few years older than Ayame-chan..."_ Naruto shares a thought with himself.

"My passions include growing and caring for my garden of flowers, eating Dango and Takowasa, and training. I graduated from the academy at age nine, became a Chuunin at age thirteen, and then got promoted to Jounin less than four years ago. Now, I know over 150 Ninjutsu, over 430 Genjutsu techniques, and my Taijutsu is above average." Naruto mentally whistled to himself in fascination. "Oh, and even though you'll hardly meet people that share the same red eyes that I have, they're not a Dojutsu like Hinata's Byakugan or the Sharingan."

"That explains alot, because at first I thought you were an Uchiha, but then you told us that your last name was Yuuhi, so I wondered if you got married outside of the Uchiha clan." Kaori stated. Kurenai chuckled and shook her head.

"No, I'm not an Uchiha, and never was. My eyes are like this due to a rare gene in my family. Besides, those who have the Sharingan have one to three tomoe outside of their pupil, while mine doesn't have any. Sasuke Uchiha-"

_"Bastard."_ Naruto and Kaori simultaneously grumbled in their head.

"-is said to be the last living Uchiha in Konoha, anyway. Boy, it scares me how many people have thought that I was from the Uchiha clan at first glimpse..." Kurenai chuckles. "And I'm not married, by the way."

_"YES!"_ A certain someone amongst the three Genin mentally shouted.

Kurenai then looks at her three students. "Is their anything else you guys would like to know about me?"

"What are your dislikes?" Kaori asked. Kurenai thought for a moment.

"Hm... There aren't too many things that I dislike, other than common things, such as selfish and uncaring people, and things of the sort. Oh, I dislike cake, if that counts for anything..." Kurenai says sheepishly. She then took a glimpse and Hinata and noted that she's been staring at Naruto half of the time while everyone was talking. _"I hope there wont be some kind of love triangle forming between this team already..."_ she silently sighs to herself in her head. Kurenai also didn't fail to notice the occasional glimpse at her chest from Naruto, but decided not to reprimand him for it... at least not in front of Hinata and Kaori. "Is that everything guys?"

Naruto had to hold back the urge to ask if she had a boyfriend at the moment, and barely succeeded. Nonetheless, no one else asked a question. Kurenai took the silence as a sign to move on.

"Alright, so now that you've gotten to know a few things about me, it's my turn to learn more about you guys. Who wants to go first?" There was another pregnant pause before Naruto raised his hand and took the initiative.

"I'll go... Um, my name is Naruto Uzumaki and I absolutely love eating ramen! I can't bare a day without having one of Ichiraku's!" Naruto exclaimed excitedly. Kaori and Hinata both smiled at this, but Kaori was the one that shook her head in amusement. "I'm twelve years old, and my birthday is October tenth-" At this, Kurenai paused to think to herself.

_"So he definitely is the boy that has Kyuubi sealed into him, just like the Hokage said." _She then smiles as she looks him over. _"Can't tell that by just looking at him. He's as happy and good-willed as anybody can be, but yet he has something so dark and evil lurking around inside him. The Fourth Hokage must've done really well with that seal of his."_ It took Kurenai a moment to realize that she drifted out of what he was saying up until now.

"-Oiroke no Jutsu and the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu." Kurenai blinked, having returned her attention to his words at the wrong moment. "Ah... I don't know any Genjutsu, and I'm sure my Taijutsu isn't the best out there, either... Oh, and I don't know why, but most of the teachers at the academy kept mumbling something about me having incredible stamina and chakra." Naruto shrugs. Kurenai nods with interest, knowing that it's most likely an end result of having the Kyuubi sealed in him.

"My goal... My goal is to make everybody recognize who I am by becoming Hokage of this village. It doesn't matter how hard I have to train, how long it takes me, or what kind of suffering I have to go through until I reach that goal, I _will _become Hokage, so I can protect everyone in this village and show everyone that even if you start from the lowest of the low, you can succeed and rise up above all others." Naruto justifies, the look on his face telling the others that each of his words were very genuine to what he was saying. To say that Kurenai is currently impressed is an understatement. She can clearly see that this boy sitting before her has a drive and determination like no other shinobi, just by this small speech she just heard. She's sure that he will be quite the interesting person to train and work with in the near future...

Kaori was not the only person looking at Naruto with a facial expression that showed the she was evidently impressed. She likes a person with a high determination and drive like his, and his fun personality is bonus points. But she highly doubts that he'll actually become Hokage one day, since she isn't exactly impressed with what she has seen him do as far as fighting on the battlefield, especially if that Genjutsu they were caught in was an example of what he'd do in reality. He 'proclaimed' that he beat a Chuunin all by himself and even learned an A-rank Ninjutsu on his own when they were at the ramen bar, but she thinks that he might have been stretching the truth a bit. Kaori is the type of person that has to see it to believe it, and since she hasn't _seen_ anything, it's gonna take a little more than what she's seen now to convince her. But even she has to admit that she likes his spunk. _"Not to mention that Blondie has cute whisker marks..."_ She thinks with a slight smirk. _"Maybe I will seek him out as a mate in the future. Eh... I dunno." _she mentally shrugs.

Hinata, on the other hand, just smiles proudly, having heard a similar speech like this back in the academy. She didn't love him just because of her weakness for blonde-haired boys with a fun and loud persona, but also because, like Kaori, she likes a guy with a strong and fiery drive and determination for what he believes in. _"And I will be there to help you achieve that goal, Naruto-kun." _she adds subconsciously. _  
_

Naruto then grins goofily, "I also love to pull pranks on people and leave adults flying with a major nosebleed with my Oiroke no Jutsu! Hehehe!"

All the females around him sweatdrop.

"Uh... I can honestly say that you sure are an interesting character, Naruto-kun." Kurenai comments with a slight grin, despite the small but lingering sweatdrop on the back of her head due to his last statement. "Not many shinobi, especially a fresh-out-of-the-academy Genin such as yourself, have such an impressive goal and strong determination like yours. The Will Of Fire surely burns deeply within your heart, Naruto-kun." Kurenai says proudly. Naruto chuckles sheepishly and rubs the back of his head modestly. The Genjutsu master then turns toward her two other students. "So who wants to go next?"

"I'll go next." Kaori says before clearing her throat. All the others' attention shifts toward her. "Hello, my name is Inuzuka Kaori. And this," Kaori then reaches back into her hood and pulls out her favorite brown and white Great Pyrenees. "is my friend and fighting partner, Akamaru." she introduces with a smile. Akamaru, just being roused from another nap, barks greetingly, but drowsily. He then returns back to his slumber in Kaori's lap. "We both share the same birthday; July 7th, but he's only three years old and I'm twelve." she says as she pets him.

"Can I hold him, Kaori?" Kurenai asks sweetly. Despite the glare she _almost _sent at her, she nods and hands Akamaru over to her, who yawned and snuggled adoringly into Kurenai's lap.

"I love to eat, particularly meat, and I love to fight strong opponents. I know many of my clan's basic Ninjutsu and Taijutsu techniques, but my affinity seems to be in Taijutsu. My favorite technique is my clan's famous Fang Over Fang Technique, although I didn't fully master it to it's maximum potential yet..." she crosses her arms and huffs in a pout. "My mom also said that I'd be a tracking type of kunoichi, since I can make my sense of smell a thousand times better than any humans, and I can track down anyone within a 500 yard radius." Kurenai and Naruto gave an impressed nod. "I dislike anything not chewy, such as vegetables, fruit, and things of that nature. My mom says that I should take up dieting, but I think that I have quite the nice body for someone my age."

Naruto and Hinata blushed.

"I also dislike Sasuke Uchiha and any eye-humping she-harpy that swoons over him." she says flatly. Naruto beams with a bright smile and raises his arm in a gesture for her to give him a high-five in agreement. Kaori chuckles and rolls her eyes, but accepts his offer.

"Why do you dislike Sasuke, Kaori-chan?" Kurenai asks. Kaori growls to herself lowly.

"That's another thing I hate. If were going to get along, you simply _can not_ call me 'Kaori-chan'." she points out. "And I don't like Sasuke because he's an arrogant, cocky, spoiled, ungrateful asshole. And his dumb 'Bird-ass' hairstyle, makes him look retarded." She says simply.

"Ah... Okay, I guess..." Kurenai mumbles with a raised eyebrow. Kaori just shrugs.

"I have an older sister, Inuzuka Hana, who's a pain in the ass sometimes, but I guess I still love her regardless." she shrugs. "My ambition is to take my mother's place as the head of our clan and become one of the strongest kunoichi in existence, even better than Tsunade of the Sannin. I know it's going to be a lot of hard work, but I know that I'll get through it and come out on top above all others." she declares with a smirk. Kurenai gives her an impressed look.

"Well, that certainly is a high goal that you're shooting for, and I have no doubts that you'll reach it." Kurenai says with a warm smile. "But... In order to be top kunoichi, you'll have to surpass a lot of others... including me." Kurenai gives Kaori a semi-challenging stare. Kaori sends back an intrigued look and nods her head in agreement. "When the time comes, I'll ask you to challenge me to a sparring match, and if you beat me, I'll officially declare you as my superior. How does that sound?"

Kaori didn't need to be told twice to agree to this deal. "Oh hell yeah! You're on, sensei!"

Kurenai nods, smirking. "Alright then, it's a deal." Kurenai reaches forward as a gesture to shake her hand to tie the deal. Kaori wastes no time in shaking it. "But, you must know that it'll be a while before you'll become on par with a Jounin such as myself. Maybe around four or five years from now."

"That's okay, I can wait until then." Kaori responds. "But you should know, sensei; It is often foolish to stare a dog in the eyes and challenge it... Especially a dog with big fangs." she warns, smiling to show off her elongated canines. Kurenai chuckles.

"I'll take that advice into consideration, thank you, Kaori." Kurenai says, giving the Inuzuka an expectant look. "Now, is that all you have to tell us about yourself?" Kaori nods.

"Yep. You'll find more about me once we get more used to each other." She finishes, still smirking at Kurenai's challenge. Kurenai nods and turns to Hinata.

"Well, I guess that just leaves you, Hinata." Kurenai says with a warm smile. Hinata hesitantly nods and clears her throat.

"Um... Hello, My name is Hyuuga Hinata. I'm twelve years old, and my birthday is December 27th. I'm um... the oldest child of my clan's head leader, Hyuuga Hiashi, and I'm the heir to my clan's main branch. Erhm... I mean, I w-was... the heiress, until my father decided to make my little sister the heiress instead..." Hinata says with a frown. Everyone's smiles drop. Seeing that she's starting to push the atmosphere into a more depressing mood, Hinata starts to smile and changes the subject.

"Um... my favorite-"

"Hey, wait a minute. Why did your father change his mind about making you heiress to the throne, Hinata-chan?" Naruto interjects. Hinata stares at him for a moment before lowering her face into her knees.

"Because... He felt that I wasn't progressing enough as a kunoichi to take the throne as clan head, so he passed that privilege to my sister, Hanabi, since she's progressing better than I am... B-But it's okay though, beca-"

"No, it's not okay!" Kaori suddenly bursts. "You can't just suddenly change your mind about someone, especially your own daughter, being next in line as heiress of the throne! Just because she was slowly developing her skills? So what! That just means you have to have patience with her! Hell, all my life I've been told that slow and steady wins the race, not fast and hasty!"

Everyone looks at Kaori, shocked. She sees this and huffs.

"Sorry, I just get a little emotional when I hear things like that." she grumbles as she crosses her arms.

"Well, I agree with you, Kaori-chan!" The Inuzuka gives Naruto a deathly stare. "I-I mean, Kaori... You shouldn't have to take this, Hinata-chan! Remember that day when I stood up to those bullies that were bullying you back at the academy around a year ago?" Naruto asks. Hinata nods her head. "And what did I say to you after I got beat up for you?"

Hinata looked down. "You told me to contact you the next time someone was bothering me... s-so that you can take the pain for me." Hinata said. Naruto nodded.

"That's right. I have half a mind to storm into his office and demand that Hinata be put back in line to take over as clan head..." Naruto grumbles as he starts to get up, but Kurenai puts a hand on his shoulder to stop him.

"Easy, Naruto-kun. Going into the Hyuuga compound uninvited isn't something you'd want to do if you care about your well-being. Especially if you're going to go there to 'Storm into Hiashi's office'." Kurenai tells him. She begins to elaborate when she sees Naruto sigh. "I'll try to talk with the Hokage about getting a meeting with Hiashi one day, but now isn't the best time." Naruto hesitantly nods and sits back down. "Now, changing the subject. Please continue where you left off, Hinata-chan." Kurenai says to the Hyuuga. Hinata nods.

"Um... My favorite food to eat are cinnamon rolls... And ramen now, I guess..." Naruto grins cheekily at Hinata, who smiled in return. "Ah, my taijutsu skills rely on my clan's Juuken techniques. Due to my Byakugan, I can be classified as a tracking kunoichi as well. Thanks to Naruto-kun, I enjoy training a little more and striving to meet my goals." Hinata says, confidence evident. Everyone smiles at the Hyuuga, causing her to blush.

"Well... I am very impressed with the members on my team, and I'm certain that with time, Squad Eight will be the best team out there." Kurenai says with a smile.

"Damn right, we will. Kaori exclaims, grinning. "With two Taijutsu specialists, a half Ninjutsu, half Taijutsu specialist, and a Genjutsu specialist as a sensei, there's no way our team could lose!" she adds, looking at her partners with satisfaction.

"That's right. But that doesn't mean that everything will be a breeze for us. There are some strong people out there, too, and we'll need to train very hard in order to pass our obstacles." Kurenai advises.

"I don't think that matters, Kurenai sensei! Kaori, Hinata-chan, and I are willing to tackle anything you or anyone else throws at us!" Kurenai sends Naruto a sweet smile.

"I'm very pleased to hear that, Naruto-kun. But..." The Red-Eyed Jounin then stands up and hands over Akamaru back to Kaori. "If you guys are so confident, how about we meet back here tomorrow at the crack of dawn? I have a training assignment for all three of you, and whatever you do, don't take it lightly." Their sensei says with a smirk. Kaori's and Naruto's eyebrows raise.

"Can you give us a hint to what it's going to be about?" Naruto asks.

"Okay. It doesn't involve too much Genjutsu." Kurenai smirks and forms a tiger seal with her right hand. "Now remember; At the crack of dawn. Always remember what I say about tardiness." she then disappears in a poof of smoke, leaving three baffled Genin sitting in the middle of The Seventh Training Ground.

"Er... Do you guys know what she has in mind regarding our Training assignment...?" Naruto asks the two girls hopefully. Kaori and Hinata shake their heads.

"Not at all." Kaori stands up and places Akamaru inside of her coat, his head peering out above the top of the zipper. She then helps Hinata and Naruto get back onto their feet. "But all I know is that it can't be too hard, especially if it doesn't involve too much Genjutsu." Hinata and Naruto nod in agreement.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." he says while stretching his limbs. He then grins goofily. "Hey, you know what we should do together?"

Kaori sends him a knowing smirk. "More bowls over at Ichiraku?" Naruto chuckles bizarrely.

"You know it!" he exclaims. "Last one there pays the bill!"

And with that, Naruto and Kaori were off.

"Come on, Hinata!" they both exclaim while running. Hinata simply shakes her head, and forms a tiger seal to shunshin to Ichiraku's.


	3. Chapter 3

_**A/N: Sorry for the slow updates. My laptop literally died on me recently, so I was 'fanfiction-less' for about two or three months. But I got a new computer, and the updates should start running more smoothly now. :)**_

"Normal Voice"

_"Thoughts"_

* * *

Hinata squeaks then sweatdrops.

Akamaru whimpers.

Kaori's eye twitches.

_"...You've got to be kidding me..."_

_"*sigh* Naruto-kun..."_

"Mmm... See_, _guys? I told you that I made my own technique..."

"But it's fucking stupid!" Kaori bursts. "Who the hell would fall for a trick like this?"

"I've tricked and deceived a lot of guys with technique already, one of them being Iruka-sensei."

"Um... Naruto-kun, I agree with Kaori-chan-" Kaori sends Hinata a look. "A-Ah, I mean, Kaori. This technique seems a little um...bizarre..."

"Oh, come on guys! What man with a fully working brain would turn this-" Naruto turns his body in a complete 360 degree turn seductively. "-down?"

"A perverted asshole, that's who." Kaori says flatly. Naruto, now henged with his oh so famous Oiroke no Jutsu, pouts cutely.

"Oh, don't be that way, Kaori-ch- Kaori..." Naruto then smiles and grinds his (her) bare body against Kaori's side. "You know you want me..."

Naruto then finds himself in a deadly choke hold.

"I'M NOT FUCKIN' GAY, YOU DUMBASS!" Kaori roars. Naruto, due to Kaori's assault, dropped his henge and found himself desperately clutching at Kaori's arm, which was tightly wrapped around his windpipe.

"Okay okay okay! Sorry! Come on Kaori, I can't breathe!" Naruto exclaims. Kaori, being taller than Naruto, lifted him off the ground by reclining her back, his now kicking feet attacking nothing but the air in front of him. Hinata simply sighs. She loved him dearly, but in her opinion, he kinda deserves this...

"Um...Is this supposed to be some kind of warm up sparring session, or something...?"

The three preteens snap their heads in the direction that they heard the voice, and spot Kurenai walking into the training grounds toward them, along with someone else whom they were not familiar with.

"K-Kurenai-sensei, help me! Kaori is trying to kill me!" Naruto calls to the Genjutsu master. Hinata shares a look with Kurenai, both sighing and shaking their heads at the two hyperactive pre-teens. Kaori grins evilly.

"If you want me to let you go, man up and make me!" she growls.

"Um. You guys might want to save your energy for the training assignment I have in store for you today..." Kurenai mumbles. Kaori gives her new sensei an over-exaggerated smile and drops Naruto on the ground. She then kneels down and pats Naruto on the head.

"Yeah, I guess you're right, sensei. I wouldn't want poor Naruto-kun here to become crippled before you even give us our assignment! After all, you are my teammate, right Naruto-kun?" Kaori asks with what seems like a sarcastically sweet attitude. Naruto scowls up at her.

"Gr... You wouldn't have crippled me. I swear if you were a guy, I'd-"

"WHAT DID YOU SAY, BAKA?"

"Gah! I said I wish I knew how to fly!"

Kaori gave the boy a creepy, but somehow innocent smile. "That's what I thought."

"Oh-ho-ho! I'm starting to like this girl already, Kurenai."

The three Genin (and Dog-nin) all turn their heads toward the owner of that voice.

Kaori's eyebrow raises.

Hinata gasps.

Akamaru barks.

Naruto's jaw drops.

_"Ah, something told me that I'd get those kinds of reactions from these guys."_ Kurenai mentally chuckles to herself with a shake of her head. She then looks over to the woman that her team was openly gawking at. She shook her head at her best friend's choice of wardrobe; A tan overcoat thrown over a mesh body suit, along with a short dark orange skirt.

Seeing that all the attention is on her, the Scary Snake Mistress, Anko Mitarashi, gives Kurenai's squad a wicked smile.

"Why hello, guys! Kurenai-chan told me about her new team and asked me to help out with her training assignment for you three. But before we get to it, why don't we get familiar with ourselves, because I'm sure this isn't the last time we'll be seeing each other." Anko says to the teens, a cheerful expression on her face. "My name is Mitarashi Anko. May I ask what your names are?"

The members from Squad Eight look at each other.

_"She seems just a bit _too_ friendly..."_

_"She's weird..."_

_"Something about her doesn't sit right with me..."_

"Er... My name is Inuzuka Kaori." Kaori takes the initiative yet again.

"Um... Hyuuga Hinata..."

"Uzumaki Naruto..."

Kurenai tries her best not to laugh out loud at her team's facial expressions. Anko simply grins even wider.

"Nice to meet you three! I can tell already that we're gonna have a lot of fun with this training assignment already!" says an enthusiastic Anko.

"What's the training assignment going to be about, anyway?" Naruto asks. Anko giggles/chuckles (The three Genin can sense a small amount of deviousness in her laugh) and looks at her friend Kurenai.

"Do you wanna tell them, or should I?" she asks. Kurenai shrugs.

"Eh, I guess I'll tell them." Kurenai then looks towards her three students. "This training assignment is going to let me see how well you three are when it comes to engaging pursuit, combat skills, agility, tactical espionage, and most importantly, teamwork." Anko then hands her five scrolls out of her overcoat pockets. Kurenai smirks when she sees the intrigued looks on her students' faces. "These here? These are jutsu scrolls, none of them being lower than a C-rank. Now what you guys are going to do is simply try to take these scrolls from Anko and I. We wont use any ninjutsu or genjutsu, but you guys are free to use whatever you wish. Just remember, you are all facing Jounin, and must come at us with the intention to kill." Kurenai states. Anko picks up where she left off.

"That's right. Without that one intention, the chances of you getting these babies are really slim." Anko then takes two of the scrolls from Kurenai and spins them on each of her index fingers. "So come at us with everything you've got, alright?" She then grips the scrolls and looks at Naruto with a grin. "Even if you just so happen to be attracted to us... Don't let your infatuations distract you." Naruto blushes.

"H-Hey, why are you looking at me only...?" Anko laughs, and masks an innocent face.

"Mmm, no reason. I just thought that I'd put that out there, that's all." she says simply. She then hides the laugh that threatened to leave her vocal cords when Naruto clamps a hand over his nose just as he glimpses at the slight amount of cleavage that Anko just so happened to _accidentally_ flash at Naruto when she leaned over to meet him eye-to-eye. Hinata and Kaori share similar, but somehow opposite looks.

_"Not another one..." _

"Anyways... You three will have until sunset to take whatever scrolls you can from Kurenai-chan and I." she says, standing straight again. "And hey, do you guys wanna know a secret?" Anko asks. The three Genin nod. "Whichever scrolls that you take from us by sunset, Kurenai here will gladly teach it you."

Kaori's, Naruto's, and Hinata's faces light up a bit. Kurenai smiles as she sees this.

"So what do you say, guys? Do you accept our offer?"

"Hell yeah!" "Of course!" "Hai, sensei!" Team 8 says simultaneously. Anko and Kurenai share looks with each other.

"That's what I like to hear." Kurenai says with a smile. "Oh, and you'll have to find Anko and I in the forest; We wont be out in the open." she says.

"And one more thing," Anko adds "We _will_ be fighting back, even if we aren't gonna go all out on you nor use any ninjutsu or genjutsu. And we _will_ try to take the scrolls back from you if you happen to get some."

Team 8 pales.

"Okay, I think that sums everything up for now. Nai-chan, you ready?" Anko asks. Kurenai nods. She then looks at the three pre-teens and grins. "How about you three?"

With hesitant nods from the three, Anko and Kurenai shunshin away into the forest, leaving the team by themselves. The training grounds they were in indeed had a forest. It started on one side of a river that divided the forest from the treeless plain section of the area. Deep into the forest was a section that started uphill into a large plateau, which was surrounded by a moat river. On the plateau, one could look down upon the rest of the forest, which could serve purpose as a surveillance vantage point. But the forest was big, so it wasn't exactly just a small stroll to get there. Naruto figures that one of them, Kurenai or Anko, will probably be on that plateau. Also, they'll have to worry about traps that they could have set up, surprise attacks, etc. Naruto sighs at the amount of trouble that he knows that this training assignment may cause. But it's that exact reason why he grins right after.

"Alright, so we best get moving now before those two can get a chance to finish setting up traps for us... if they haven't done so already." Kaori says, looking into the forest. Naruto and Hinata nod and run into the forest, jumping over the small river. Before they get too deep into the forest, Team 8 stops to think strategically.

"Okay, it's three against two. How should we go after them?" Kaori asks.

"I think we should stay together as a team and go after one at a time." Naruto says.

"I agree with Naruto-kun. If we split up and go after each, our numbers will be uneven and one of us will be at a disadvantage." Hinata points out. Kaori nods her head and thinks to herself for a minute. Before she speaks up, Naruto starts first.

"Oh, hey! I know one way our numbers will be even if we split up!" Naruto says with a big smile. Kaori raises her eyebrow.

"And how is that? It's not like we can split and multiply, Blondie." Naruto looks at Kaori and smiles even wider.

"Hehehe! _You_ guys can't. But I can do something like that!" Naruto forms a crossing, two-handed hand seal and musters up his chakra. "Kage-Bunshin no Jutsu!"

Kaori whistles, seemingly impressed, while Hinata gasps in surprise. Kaori knew that there were more than twenty Naruto's surrounding them, all sporting the same goofy grin.

"Wow, so you weren't kidding about learning a high ranked ninjutsu, were you?" Kaori comments. She then walks up to one of the bunshins. "And they're all solid clones? No simple regular bunshin, huh?" she asks while poking said bunshin in the chest.

"Hehe, nope! They're all real. And I can make hundreds of them!" he (the original) says proudly.

_"And the fact that he can create them in bulk like this is something to brag about, too."_ Kaori thinks to herself. After a few more seconds of thinking, Kaori swiftly punches one in the chest, making it disspell in a poof of smoke.

"Hey, why'd you do that?"

"While these clones may be solid and have the ability to fight back, they can't take much damage." she points out. "While your idea about taking clones with us while we split up may have been a good idea, they wont serve much purpose if one of us gets ambushed."

Naruto frowns a bit.

"But I guess we can still split up, since you can create more clones at will, you wont be completely useless if you go searching by yourself. Besides, you're _so_ much stronger than us, since you just so happened to defeat a Chuunin by yourself, right Naruto?" Kaori says with a smirk, her sarcasm obvious. Naruto growls.

"I wasn't lying about that! You can ask Iruka-sensei!"

"I'll be sure to, Blondie." The Inuzuka rolls her eyes, still smirking. "Anyway, I'll go searching with Hinata, and you go with your clones. If you get into trouble, send a clone to us and we'll try to back you up as soon as possible." she says. Naruto marvels at how smart the wild-haired girl is, but nods his head in confirmation.

"And looking for you shouldn't be that hard, since I have the Byakugan and Kaori has her keen sense of smell... right?" Hinata mumbles. Kaori nods.

"Good point, Hinata. And you should create even more clones and spread them throughout the forest, to set off traps that might already be here and to throw off our sensei's expectations." Kaori adds. Naruto nods and creates ten more clones, commanding each to spread out into a different part of the forest.

"You know, Kaori... you're really smart." Naruto says with a smile. Kaori grins and looks him deep in the eyes.

"Kissing up to me will get you nowhere." And with that, she and Hinata run off into the forest, with Hinata sighing before she follows her.

_"...I wasn't kissing up to her." _Naruto mumbles in his head. He shrugs it off, then walks in a direction that none of the clones went in.

* * *

"So the Byakugan, huh? That's quite a cool Kekkei Genkai you have there, Hinata." Kaori compliments while jumping from branch to branch through the forest. Hinata, with her Byakugan-activated eyes, looks at Kaori and blushes.

"Ah, thank you, Kaori-san. Um... I think you're really pretty..." Hinata compliments back. Kaori scoffs and looks forward.

"_Pretty_ wouldn't be the word I'd use, but thanks anyway." she says. Hinata looks at her with a wondering look, but just brushes it off and returns her attention to looking for either Anko or Kurenai with her improved sense of vision. It wasn't until a few minutes later until someone spoke up again.

"Do you like Naruto?"

That question threw Hinata off her balance, and it took the assistance of Kaori to make sure she didn't fall onto the forest floor.

"Wh-What...?"

"Don't play dumb, I said do you like Naruto?" Kaori repeats. She looks at Hinata and can see the blush tainting her face.

"Uh...! Well, I uh..." Hinata gets interrupted when Kaori stops and holds her arm out in front of Hinata, stopping her as well.

"Wait a minute! I'm picking up the scent of Kurenai-sensei! Hinata, do a perimeter search." she says. Hinata nods and looks around with her Byakugan, mentally thanking that the focus bounced off of what Kaori just asked.

"Yes! I see her, 300 meters northeastward!" she tells her. Kaori nods.

"So how do you want to go about this? Try a sneak attack?"

"Yes, that seems like the most logical thing to do." Hinata replies. "But she's a Jounin... are you sure that it'll work?" Kaori scoffs.

"Don't worry Hinata, we got this. Now this is what we're going to do..."

* * *

"Geez... how big is this forest? It doesn't seem to end at all..." Naruto mumbles to himself while traversing through the trees. His stomach then growls, making him frown. "And I'm getting hungry... I knew I should have eaten breakfast this morning..."

"Hehehe..."

Naruto pauses and lands on a branch. He was sure he just heard that, if not barely. He looks around, analyzing his surroundings for any sudden movements. His head snaps to his left when he hears rustling in a bush. Jumping down from the branch and walking towards the bush, Naruto tiptoes. When he gets within two feet away from the bush...

"Gotcha!" he shouts, separating the plant with his hands. He finds nobody, however, but instead finds a round object wrapped in paper. "Hey, someone left a rice dumpling out here in the open! Just my luck!"

Poor old simple-minded Naruto...

"HEY! What the hell is this!" he shouts, finding himself hanging upside-down by a rope by his feet. He tries to shake loose, but the knot around his ankles was tied down tight, leaving him simply struggling and bouncing goofily by the rope. Before he can futilely try to shake himself loose any further, he spots a certain Tokubetsu Jounin walking toward him. He halts his movements as the remaining inertia makes him move back and forth.

"Tsk, tsk. Of all people, I wouldn't expect you to fall for a trap like this... or maybe I did." Anko mocks, her face now inches away from Naruto's. She grabs his head to stop him from rocking back and forth and looks him in the eyes. "Hm... Don't know many people with blue eyes, you know. I also don't get to meet many cute guys like you..." she flirts, making Naruto blush. Anko then closes her eyes and playfully sighs. "Man, if only you were older... Anyway, better luck next time, kid." She grins. But before she turns to walk away, Naruto reaches forward.

"W-Wait, don't leave just yet!" Anko looks at him with a raised eyebrow. "I mean... Can I um... have a kiss...? Maybe?"

Anko's laugh could be heard dozens of feet away.

"Hm... I don't see why not. You are cute, and nobody is watching us..." Anko then leans her head forward slowly. But right before Anko's lips meet Naruto's, to the point where her lips are but an inch away from his, she stops and grins.

"Just kidding. I'm not a cradle-robber, and Kurenai would kill me if she were to ever find out. Come see me in three or four years, hun." she teases with a wink. But just before she turns around to walk away again, she spots a grin plastered on Naruto's face. "What are you grinning about? Just because I said you were a target when you get older, doesn't mean that it's definite." she teases again with another wink and grin. Her grin slips a little when Naruto giggles.

"It's not that, Anko-sensei! I just already got what I wanted..."

And with that, 'Naruto' poofs and disappears in a puff of smoke.

"...Well, well! A Kage-Bunshin! I never would have suspected him learning such a high ranked Ninjutsu..." Anko then puts her hands in her trench coat pockets, only to find the two scrolls hidden within them missing. "And he managed to take the scrolls from me without me noticing? I can honestly say that I'm really impressed. Next time, I'm hiding those scrolls between my breasts." she jokes with a full blown smirk. With a slightly devious laugh, Anko takes off in the trees again.

_"Okay Blondie, time for round two!"_

* * *

"Hey, you two haven't been teammates for more than two days, yet your teamwork isn't half bad!" compliments a smirking Kurenai. Kaori and Hinata, who were standing right beside each other, were breathing heavily. Each were in their respective clan taijutsu stances, ready for any attack that may come their way again. Akamaru was on his toes as well, standing right beside his owner for assistance.

Kurenai, however, didn't seem to be breaking much of a sweat, although she was on her toes in her taijutsu stance. Kurenai, unlike Anko sometimes, never takes her opponent lightly no matter who it is, even though she was holding back. Her smirk showed that she was impressed and entertained with her two students that just graduated out of the academy. "Might I ask where Naruto is?" Kurenai asks. Kaori smirks.

"Sorry sensei, but that's classified. I'm treating you as an enemy, seeing as I'd have to come at you with the intent to kill." she states. Kurenai gives her a warming smile.

"Ah, so I am teaching you well after all." And with that, Kurenai swiftly charges towards her students, alarming both Hinata and Kaori. She was moving in zigzag-like motions, so neither of the two Genin could tell who Kurenai was going to strike first. But soon after, they both could tell that their teacher was charging toward Hinata, who instinctively tightened her stance, preparing to either dodge or block the incoming strike.

Suddenly, in a blur of orange, Kurenai was intercepted and tackled to the ground by a figure from above. Kurenai grunts in shock and slight pain, and looks up to see her male, spiky-haired student pinning her to the ground, a victorious grin on his face.

"Hi, Kurenai-sensei."

"Hello, Naruto-kun." Kurenai grins and easily pushes Naruto off of her, being a lot stronger than the blue-eyed Jinchuuriki. She then grabs him by the arm, spins him, and lunges the small teen at a tree. As soon as she let go, she curses at the fact that maybe she put too much strength into that throw.

She was surprised when 'Naruto' disappeared into a puff of smoke as soon as he hit the tree.

_"Is that the...? No, it couldn't be. That technique is a Jounin-level jutsu, not even I have fully mastered it to it's full potential. And he' just a academy graduate..." _Kurenai ponders to herself. She then looks toward Hinata's and Kaori's direction and can see another Naruto handing his two teammates each a scroll from his pockets. _"And he managed to take the scrolls from Anko? That's ludicrous..." _Kurenai adds, indeed very surprised. She watches as all three genin take off in different directions.

"Naruto isn't exactly someone to underestimate, eh Kure-chan?" She hears her friend say from her side. Kurenai smiles and shakes her head.

"None of them are, Anko. They've only been genin for one day, and I could see them working as chuunin already." she admits. The genjutsu mistress then looks at her life-long companion with a sly smirk. "And would you mind telling me just how Naruto-kun managed to take the scrolls from you?"

Anko snorts, "Little bastard is slicker than you'd think. Who'd ever think that he'd know a B-ranked ninjutsu like that already?" she says.

"So that _is_ the Kage-Bunshin Technique. I don't remember seeing that in his records." Kurenai remarks, dusting herself off from the unexpected tackle from Naruto not five minutes ago. Anko shrugs.

"I guess it just makes it that much more fun, don't you agree?"

"Oh, definitely."


	4. Chapter 4

**_A/N: Sorry for the long delay. It's kind of hard to sit in front of your computer and type when it's summertime and you have a long list of things to do._**

**_And I've been getting reviews regarding whether the Kage-Bunshin Technique is an A-rank or B-rank. But I looked it up and that technique is indeed a B-ranked Ninjutsu._**

* * *

The Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, sighs as Iruka looks as if he's about to spontaneously combust.

"I agree with Naruto! These missions we've been doing aren't even missions! They're chores that simple civilians can do!" Kaori roars at the Hokage.

"Hey! Watch your tone, young lady! This is the Hokage your speaking to!" Iruka shouts. Kaori scoffs at him.

"Whatever."

"Um... if I may add," Hinata suddenly speaks up quietly. "I agree with Kaori and Naruto-kun. I do um... understand that these missions aren't very difficult and very safe, since we've just become genin, but... These seem more like tasks to me..." she mumbles, twiddling her fingers innocently. Kurenai shakes her head in front of her team.

"Now guys, be patient. All of us had to go through the same thing you went through when we were younger, and look how we turned out." She points out, trying to show the lighter side of this argument.

"But did these so called 'missions' ever help you three become stronger as shinobi?" Naruto shoots back. There was no immediate answer at first, but the Hokage spoke up before Naruto could confirm his statement.

"Honestly, no, they didn't. But these missions teach responsibility and practices the teamwork required to-"

"You know what I think?" Kaori interrupts, waving off Sarutobi's words. "I think that giving small genin these jobs is just a cheap way to carry out simple tasks asked by civilians. Getting genin to fulfill these tasks are cheaper than hiring regular shinobi, and requires less work to carry them out themselves, so you feed us some lame ass reasons to persuade us to do them without complaints, ain't I right, _Mr. Hokage_?"

A bit of silence passes through...

"Why you little...! That's it, I-!" Iruka starts, but Hiruzen puts a hand on his shoulder to reassure him.

"It's quite alright, Iruka. I can handle this." he says with a smile. He then turns his head toward Team 8. "So you three want a more challenging mission, huh? Okay then."

"Yeah? Well, that's no excuse why-!" Naruto stops and blinks mid-sentence. "Wait. Did you just say 'okay then', Ojii-san?" Naruto asks with a questioning look. Hinata, Kaori, basically everyone in the office look at the Hokage sharing Naruto's facial expression. Sarutobi chuckles and nods his head.

"Yes I did, Naruto. If you feel that you and your team are ready for a mission that's a little more advanced, then I say why not? Just as long as you have the permiss-"

"I don't mean to interrupt, Hokage-sama. But may I express my opinion about this?" Kurenai interjects.

"...the permission from your sensei." Hiruzen finishes. "Of course, Kurenai. Please share your thoughts with us." Kurenai nods.

"While I do agree that my squad and I have been on quite a few D-rank missions-"

"Twenty-eight, to be exact." Kaori mumbles with crossed arms. Kurenai gives her a slight glare. Kaori simply shrugs.

"...I do believe that maybe my squad isn't ready for a higher ranked mission just yet."

Kaori and Naruto groan. "Aww, come on, Kurenai-sensei! We've done twenty-eight D-rank missions and passed them with no problems at all. We all think that these little 'missions' are below our skill level. Even Hinata-chan thinks so!" Naruto exclaims. He then turns to Hinata and rubs his head embarrassingly. "Er... No offense, Hinata-chan."

"Um, none taken, Naruto-kun." she replies honestly. Naruto smiles at her and turns back toward his sensei to continue his rant.

"So do you think we can handle a C-rank mission? Or do you not have confidence in us?" Naruto shoots. Kurenai sighs and shakes her head.

"It's not that I don't have confidence in you guys. I have plenty, trust me. I just want to make sure you three are prepared for whatever a C-rank mission will throw at you. Usually, C-rank missions require leaving the village, and with all these hunter-nin, thieves, and other dangerous people out there, I would _never_ forgive myself if something happened to any of you three." she fires back. Everyone admits that Kurenai has a good point. But Kaori and Naruto are way to persistent to give in to Kurenai's argument.

"But we have you, Kurenai-sensei! You even told all of us the other day that we might be good enough to pass off as chuunin already, remember?" The brunette Inuzuka says. "With twenty-eight D-rank missions marked down in our portfolio's, almost anyone would agree that maybe we could move on to something better." Kaori then sighs upon seeing a facial expression that showed that Kurenai still wasn't fully convinced.

"Um, if I may?" Hinata then squeaks, attracting everyone's attention. "I was wondering if um... maybe Anko-sensei could possibly assist us in this mission? That way if any hunter-nin try to come at us, we'll have her to help us too?" she says, earning a smile from Naruto and Kaori.

"Hey, yeah! Hinata-chan, you come up with the smartest ideas when you're not so quiet!" Naruto tells her, causing her to blush and smile at the compliment. Kurenai thinks for a minute then shrugs.

"I mean, I guess it would be better... But she's a Tokubetsu Jounin. She might possibly be busy with her own tasks or missions, or-"

_POOF!_

"You rang?"

Everyone (except the Hokage and Kurenai) come down from their mini heart attacks as they gaze upon the grinning Anko after the smoke in the office clears away.

"Anko. And exactly how did you hear us talking about you?" Kurenai asks with a raised eyebrow. Anko smiles at her ebony-haired friend and puts on a surprised and innocent look.

"Why Kurenai! What are you doing here? I just wanted to speak to the Hokage about something." she says, her acting skills being a little on the mediocre side.

"Yes, Anko-san? And just what can I help you with?" The Third Hokage asks, looking at Anko with mild intrigue. The three genin all look at her and wonder if that grin is something she does out of habit, or if that's just a part of her default facial expression.

"I just wanted to tell you that I'm currently done with all the tasks that I was assigned to complete. Me, Ibiki, and all of the other proctors say that everything regarding the Chuunin Exams are taken care of." Anko's smirk then widens. "So whatever _other_ assignments you may have for me, I'm gladly available for them."

Sarutobi, Kurenai, and Iruka give her a flat look, which she just brushes off as if they weren't doing so. Naruto beams brightly at Kurenai.

"Ha! So now can we _please_ go on a higher ranked mission now, Kurenai-sensei? There's no reason why you should say no!" Naruto proclaims. Kurenai sighs and rubs her temples.

"...Fine."

"YEAH!" Naruto shouts, deafening anyone around him. He then runs up to Hinata and Kaori and ambushes them in a tight group hug. Hinata squeals and her whole face reddens. Kaori simply gives him a flat look and raises her fist.

"Get off me, you dick face!"

Naruto groans at the huge and throbbing lump protruding out of his sun-kissed hair. Anko simply laughs at them and turns to the Hokage.

"Okay, so what C-ranked mission are we going to go on, boss?" Anko asks. Hiruzen begins to question her about how she knew she was included in this predicament, but stops himself, knowing the answer already. So he clears his throat and takes out a scroll from his drawer, containing listings for available C-ranked missions.

"Alright, so lets see what we have here..." he mumbles, putting on his reading glasses as he skims through the scroll. "Ah, here we are. I have one delivery mission for you. You are to import some disclosed information in this scroll-" he starts, taking out another, differently colored scroll from his drawer. "-to Suna. That's all that is, a simple delivery mission." he informs them. Kurenai raises an eyebrow.

"Why don't we just use our importing and exporting birds for that?" she asks.

"The information inclosed in this scroll is very important and essential for a successful delivery. Messenger birds get intercepted too easily, and I don't want to run that risk." he says. Kurenai nods then thinks for a second.

"But... what about-"

"Oh, stop trying to find excuses to get these kids out of this mission, Nai-chan." Anko scoffs. "If you really want my opinion, I'd say that we should go on a B-ranked mission. A successful juicy B-rank completed as a genin would look really impressive on there portfolio." she says. Kurenai shakes her head and glares at her long-time friend.

"Anko, don't get carried away."

"What? I'm not. Hell, I went on a B-ranked mission when I was their age."

"Anko, that doesn't count, and you should know why." Kurenai scolds with a hardening look. Anko simply shrugs.

"So what if I was a 'special case'? All I'm sayin' is that if you're good enough to trick me and steal a scroll from me without myself noticing, you should be given your props for that." she says simply. Kurenai rolls her eyes and changes the subject.

"Anyway, seeing as I'm not going to win this debate, you three are given two hours to prepare for this mission. We will all meet at the entrance of Konoha by then. And always-"

"Always remember what you say regarding tardiness." Kaori finishes with a bored expression. "We know, sensei. After around five times, it starts to get annoying to hear it all the time. No offense."

Kurenai gives her a smirk, "I'm glad to know that you actually pay attention to what I'm saying." she says. "Alright, so since you all already know my routine, all of you are dismissed. I'll see you three in two hours."

* * *

Team 8 then leave the Hokage tower upon their dismissal, exiting onto the streets of Konoha. Naruto still had a very bright, lively grin on his face. Kaori was grinning as well, but in a nonchalant manner, unlike Naruto. Hinata was quite happy with herself as well, seeing as she saw that Naruto appreciated her idea of mentioning Anko in their debate for a C-ranked mission. She was even walking with her hands by her sides, when usually she'd have them held up against her torso in a very concealed manner.

"Hey, what do you guys think Anko-sensei meant by 'So what if I was a _'special case_' back at the office?" Kaori asks her two teammates suddenly. Hinata and Naruto share a look and Naruto simply shrugs.

"I dunno. Well, you can obviously see that Anko-sensei isn't exactly the most _normal_ person we've met so far, so I'm pretty sure it has something to do with her personality, I guess." he answers. "Why do you ask?"

Kaori shrugs her shoulders and looks up at the sky, "Eh, I dunno. I guess I can just get pretty suspicious with things things like that sometimes. My mom is the same way." she then fully turns her head toward Hinata and Naruto. "Hey, now that I mention it, you guys have never met my family, have you?" she asks. The Uzumaki and Hyuuga pair shake their heads. "So how about we go to the Inuzuka complex and have you guys meet them?"

Naruto and Hinata share looks again, only this time they held a bit of a fearful expression on them. Kaori sees this and sighs before either one can answer. "Look, I know I may not appear to be one of the most _'feminine' _or _'friendliest'_ of people, but I can assure you that the people in my family are good people. They don't bite. Well... unless you try to take food from them." the Inuzuka heiress assures them. Naruto thinks for a minute before answering.

"Um, sure. I guess we could go visit them. How does that sound, Hinata-chan?" Naruto asks the short-haired princess.

"That uh, sounds good. I'd love to meet your family, Kaori-san." Hinata answers. Although no one else noticed it, Kaori realized that Hinata barely had any trouble not stumbling across her own words, nor did she blush and/or twiddle her fingers coyly like she usually does. The Inuzuka grins mentally.

_"Hah, so looks like Blondie and I are starting to break her out of that damn shell of hers."_ "Alright then, lets go. While you meet them, I'll be packing and preparing for our mission. Then we could do the same for you guys and visit your houses while you get ready." Kaori said as she began walking ahead to the Inuzuka compound with Naruto and Hinata following.

"Um, I don't think going to the Hyuuga Estate would be a good idea..." Hinata mumbles, twiddling her fingers. Her habit of doing that may be fading, but it still definitely was no where close to breaking.

"Why not?" Kaori asks, raising an eyebrow at her.

"Because... I wouldn't want um... any problems to occur between you two and my father..." she answers, remembering the outbursts her two boisterous teammates gave out when they were introducing themselves. Naruto and Kaori share looks.

"Whatever." Kaori dismisses. "I'm pretty sure Naruto and I don't wanna see him anyway. Hey, are any of you allergic to dogs?" Kaori asks suddenly. The other two others shake their heads.

"Naw, I love dogs! I always wanted to have one." Naruto says with a smile.

"Same here." Hinata adds, smiling herself. She was about to add the fact that the reason she doesn't have one is because of Hiashi's disapproval of muts in his estate, but decided rather to not speak about it. She wouldn't want those two to be reminded of her dilemma with her father, and spark a confrontation, given their brash personalities.

Kaori grins, "Heh, maybe if you're lucky, my mom just might loan you a few of ours. But I doubt it; The Inuzuka don't just loan one of our own to just anybody." Kaori states with a shrug afterwards.

"Er... How many dogs are at the Inuzuka Compound, anyway?" Naruto asks. Kaori puts her finger to her chin in a thinking pose.

"Uh... I dunno, somewhere around maybe five hundred, I think? And that's including the baby pups." Kaori tells them. Both Hinata and Naruto were astonished at the large number of canines living in one single place. "And this is it; The Inuzuka Compound." Kaori declares, gesturing toward the open gate with the sentence 'Trespassers will be bitten. Survivors will be eaten.' carved on both of the pillars in Kanji. Both Naruto and Hinata gulp and start to get nervous.

"Uh...! Kaori-chan, I don-"

Glare.

"I mean, Kaori... I don't think that that warning on that gate is helping to convince me that the Inuzuka are the most er... friendliest of people..." Naruto murmurs with a sweatdrop. Kaori looks at him and laughs.

"Hah, oh relax. That sign is just to intimidate any intruders or thieves planning to come to our compound."

"Uh... I'm pretty sure it works..."

Kaori laughs again.

"Ahaha, oh, stop being pussies, you two. As long as you're with me, everything should be all good and dandy." Kaori assures them and gestures for them to follow her inside.

"Um... Kaori-san? Do the Inuzuka actually um... eat intruders...?" Hinata asks nervously once she sees one of the larger Inuzuka dogs devouring a raw steak off in the distance.

Kaori chuckles yet again. "Oh man, you guys are killin' me. No, the Inuzuka nor do our dogs eat human flesh. Well... except for maybe some of the crazier dogs that aren't allowed to go outside the compound..."

Naruto and Hinata share looks.

"But they get locked away deep inside here. I doubt that you'll ever get to see them." she assures them. "We do bite though. But you wont have to worry about that unless you steal from us, threaten us, or anything of the sort. Oh, and do not, and I mean _do not_ try to take food from us. We will hunt you down." Kaori says with a cheeky smile. Hinata and Naruto both sweatdrop simultaneously. "Okay, I'm exaggerating. But only slightly." Naruto was about to say something until a small dark orange-colored baby pup walked up to Naruto and started to bark at him excitedly. It had black fur on it's paws, which changed to white as it got higher along it's legs, then changed to dark orange once it got up to it's body. It also had a white strip along it's back and black fur on its ears. He/She was looking at Naruto with what seemed to be a playful smile, it's orange and white bushy tail swaying back and forth.

"Hey, look Kaori! One of the dogs want to play with me! " Naruto says, picking the strange looking canine up to meet it eye-to-eye. He could see that it's eyes were orange and had black, almost round slits in them as irises. It's tongue was sticking out, and anyone could tell that it was anxious to play.

Kaori, who was letting Akamaru out of her hood to go free, turns her head toward Naruto's direction and raises an eyebrow. "Uh, that's weird."

"What's weird?" Naruto asks, smiling and chuckling once the canine began to assault his cheek with it's tongue.

"That little brat there is Mina. She's usually one of the more antisocial pups in this compound." Kaori walks up to the pair and scratches her head. "She never acted like this before..."

"Maybe she has a special liking to Naruto-kun." Hinata says with a small giggle once the pup jumps free from Naruto's hands and starts running around in circles while looking at the Jinchuuriki, telling him that she really wants to play. Kaori seems amused, but shrugs it off.

"Eh, I guess. But that's something I've never seen before." she mumbles before hinting for the two to start following her again. Once Naruto starts walking, he notices that Mina started to follow him as well.

"Uh, looks like Mina-chan wants to follow me." Naruto says with a smile. Kaori shrugs.

"So let her. There's not one place in the compound that the dogs aren't allowed to go." she tells him. Once the group walks up to one of the small buildings in the compound, they are welcomed to see one wolf-like canines with the left ear missing and and an eyepatch over his right eye. His fur is Navy blue/black on the top and white on the bottom. He was sleeping peacefully on the front porch of Kaori's home.

"Hey, Kuro-kun." Kaori says to the wolf-like dog. He opens it's one eye lazily and grins at the young Inuzuka.

"Hello, Kaori-chan. If you want your mother, she's right inside h-"

"AAHH!"

Kaori turns her head to Naruto, who fell on his ass in shock, "What?" She asked, annoyed.

Naruto points a finger at the cyclops canine, "D-Did that dog just... _talk_?"

Kaori rolls her eyes and sees that Hinata was almost as shocked as Naruto. She begins to say something, but Kuromaru speaks up first.

"Yes I did. I can say a lot of things, actually. But, _who _may I ask are you?" he asks with a very intimadating tone of voice. The large dog then stands up on all legs and walks over to a nervous Naruto, sniffing and smelling him all over. Naruto could only pray that the dog wouldn't bite him.

Kaori shakes her head, "Sorry, I forgot to introduce you guys. Kuromaru-kun, these are the new teammates on my genin squad, Hinata Hyuuga, and Naruto Uzumaki. So no need to make them wet themselves, okay?" Kaori says with a bored tone of voice. Kuromaru sniffs Naruto and apologizes to him before going over to sniff Hinata, who seems to be a little frightened at his approach as well. "Naruto and Hinata, this is my mother's canine companion, Kuromaru. I apologize for his way of introducing himself, he's very protective of my family and I." she says. Hinata gulps and gently strokes Kuromaru's head.

"Um... N-Nice to meet you, Kuromaru-san..."

Kuromaru looks up at her and gives her what seems like a smile, "She's a real sweetheart. Her whole aura is so pure and free." he says. The dog then looks at Naruto and his 'smile' drops a bit. "Him, on the other hand... he has a clean, pure aura to him too, but... I can't put my finger on it. Something about it doesn't quite sit right with me, but it seems so familiar..." Naruto raises an eyebrow at the talking pup. But before he can say anything, Mina comes up to him and presses her paws against Naruto's leg, her tongue still sticking out in a playful manner.

"Hey, that's Mina. I've never seen her so playful before." Kuromaru mumbles. Kaori shrugs.

"That's what I said. But apparently, she has a thing for Naruto, or something." she tells him. Kuromaru looks up as if he remembers something.

"Ah, that's why the boy's aura is so familiar. His aura has the scent of fox." he declares. The members of team 8 all look at each other, confused.

"Why fox?" Naruto asks. Kuromaru shrugs.

"I dunno, kid. It's your aura." he then looks at Mina. "And Mina here is half fox as well. I think that's why she's taking a liking to you so much. It still confuses me why she isn't the same way with everyone else..." he mumbles before shrugging again. "Anyway, your mom is inside, Kaori-chan. I think she's helping Hana with something... or something."

"'Kay, thanks." she says before fingering Naruto and Hinata to follow her inside the house.

"No problem. And be sure to ask Tsume when dinner will be done." he says before laying down to resume his peaceful nap.

"Will do." she answers as she opens the door. Naruto and Hinata (and Mina) follow her inside and are welcomed to the sight of a nice, clean, wooden house. Kaori's two teammates had to admit that they'd expect her home to be kind of messy, but it was clean as far as they could see. The first thing the saw was a staircase to their right, which connected to a hallway with a door at the end. To their left was a doorless door frame that Naruto and Hinata could only assume lead to a kitchen or living room.

"Mom, I'm home. Where are ya?" she calls into the house.

"In Hana's room." a feminine, but somehow intimidating kind of voice answers back. Kaori starts up the staircase and her two teammates took it as a sign to follow her. Once they were up the stairs, they found themselves in the middle of a small, but spacious hallway, which lead to three rooms on each side. Kaori went left and they followed. Next, they saw her enter through an open doorframe, which had white carpet on the other side. The two followed right behind Kaori and were welcomed to see two brunettes sitting on a simple futon mattress with papers between them. The brunette on the right had an animalistic look to her, almost like Kaori, and had wild, spiky hair in a fashion almost similar to Naruto's. She had slitted pupils, and shared the same red, fang-like markings on each side of her cheeks. The long, sharp nails she sported could make anyone not want to get into a cat fight with her, and was wearing a simple white t-shirt, with black capris.

The brunette on the left looked a lot younger than the other brunette, and still sported her clan markings on each of her cheeks. Her face was very feminine and had beautiful eyes, unlike the other brunette. her brown hair was kept in a neat, long ponytail with two long, but thin bangs in the front. She didn't possess long nails, wild hair, or even long canines like Kaori and the other Inuzuka sitting across from her.

"Whats up, Mom, Hana. I'd like you two to meet my teammates." she says before moving to the side to expose Naruto and Hinata fully, who were standing behind her. Naruto gives a cheeky smile and waves his hand at the two. Hinata gave a small smile and does the same. "Naruto and Hinata, meet my mother, Tsume Inuzuka," she says, gesturing toward the older looking brunette "and my older sister, Hana Inuzuka." she then gestures toward the ponytail-ed woman.

"Hi, Nice to meet ya!"

"Hello, it's a pleasure to meet you two."

Kaori then gestures toward Naruto, "Mom, sis, this is my knuckle-headed teammate, Blondie. I mean, Naruto Uzumaki." she says with a grin, earning her a slight glare from the blonde. She then motions toward Hinata "And this is my shy, but smart and sensible teammate, Hinata Hyuuga." she finishes. Hana smiles at the two and waves, as Tsume narrows her eyes at Hinata.

"To be honest, I don't take very kindly to you Hyuuga." Tsume grumbles, spreading awkward silence in the room. Hinata's smile drops and she looks away. Tsume then shrugs.

"But you don't seem like the usual stuck up, pompous-assed Hyuuga that I normally see, so I wont be too judgmental on you." she says.

"Trust me Mom, she's like the complete opposite from your normal Hyuuga. She's a real sweetheart, even Kuro-kun said so." Kaori says to her mother, sticking up for her teammate.

"Really?" Tsume asks with an intrigued tone of voice, looking back at Hinata. "Then your okay with me!" she adds with a big grin, making Hinata smile again. Kaori was about to say something before Mina walked into the room and laid right beside Naruto's feet. Tsume sees this and forms a questioning look on her face, which Kaori sees and answers the non-verbal question her mom was asking.

"Mom, Kuro-kun and I made the same exact face when we saw this. But apparently, Mina has a thing for Naruto. and Kuromaru said that it's because Naruto gives off the scent of fox." Kaori answers.

"No kiddin'?" Tsume says, arching her eyebrow. Hana raises her nose and sniffs the air.

"Yeah, now that you mention it, I can sort of smell it too." she says.

"Yeah, me too." Tsume mumbles. Kaori shrugs her shoulders.

"I don't know what the hell you guys are talking about; I've been around Naruto for more than two weeks and I've never smelled any fox."

"Well, that's because you're still a minor, pup. Remember that you're still only thirteen and it takes time to develop a sense of smell like your sister and I." Tsume tells her daughter with a smirk. Kaori huffs and crosses her arms.

"I can't wait till I'm older..." she mumbles under her breath. "I'll be in my room packing my things, cuz Naruto, Hinata, and I are going to go away for a while for our first C-rank mission." she says after sighing. "Hinata, wanna help me?"

"Sure, Kaori-san."

Tsume was about to ask her something before Kaori and Hinata walked away.

"Your first C-rank mission? And you've only been genin for around three weeks?" Hana asks Naruto. The whiskered blonde grins sheepishly.

"Heh, yeah. We sort of nagged our sensei and the Hokage to give us harder missions." he answers coyly, holding Mina in his arms. Tsume and her first daughter was somewhat taken back by his reply.

"The Hokage? As in Hiruzen Sorutobi, the leader of this village?" she asks. Naruto nods. "Shit, I know if I was to nag him for better missions, he'd assign me on border patrol instead." the wild-haired mother says flatly. Naruto smiles sheepishly.

It was then that Tsume looks Naruto over fully, _"Hm... You don't find too many people with blonde hair and blue eyes here in the village outside of the Yamanaka clan. He actually looks a lot like..." _she then mentally shakes her head. _"...Nah." _

"So um... what are you and Hana-san doing, Tsume-sama?" Naruto then asks, gesturing toward the papers between the two women.

"Please, you don't have to add the '-sama' suffix to my name. You don't even have to add the '-san' suffix." she says as Naruto nods. "And I'm helping Hana with some paperwork her job gave her. She works at the veterinarian center." Tsume tells him. Naruto smiles.

"That's cool, Hana." he then raises an eyebrow. "How come we have a vet center when we have a regular hospital here in Konoha?"

"Because when it comes to animals, they need a different type of medical chakra. Regular chakra that's used on humans wont work them." Hana answers. Naruto thinks for a second before nodding.

"Alright Blondie, we're ready to go. Lets get a move on." Kaori says from down the hall. Naruto nods his head and waves at Hana and Tsume, who gladly wave back, taking Mina along with him. Hinata and Kaori peep in the doorway and wave goodbye as well.

Once Tsume was sure that the three were gone, she grins at Hana, who was grinning as well.

"I think Kaori found herself her first boyfriend. She may not show it, but I can sense her change in mood when she's around him." Tsume says. Hana giggles and nods.

"Oh definitely, I could sense it too. They'd make a cute couple." her daughter replies. Tsume's smile drops a little when she thinks about something.

"Now that I think about it, I could smell the Hyuuga's pheromones from here too..." she mumbles. Hana frowns a bit.

"So you're saying that Hinata might like Naruto as well?"

"Either that, or Hinata has a thing for my daughter. And I doubt that it's the latter."


	5. Chapter 5

Once squad eight walked out of Kaori's home, they began to walk off of the porch before a voice stopped them.

"Hey Kaori-chan, did you ask your mom when dinner will be ready?"

Kaori turned around to face the cyclops and gave an embarrassed grin, "Oops. Sorry Kuro-kun, it kinda slipped my mind..." she admitted. Kuromaru closed his eye and huffed, standing straight on his four legs.

"Forgetful, as always. If you want something done right, you gotta do it yourself..." the dog grumbled before heading into the house himself. Not soon after, the sleeping dog-fox hybrid in Naruto's arms yawned, emitting a cute noise from her mouth that attracted the three's attention.

"Sorry Blondie, but you can't take her with us." Kaori said. Naruto shrugged.

"Eh, we'll be back after our mission, anyway. That's why I didn't ask to keep her yet."

"Blondie, you can't just come into someone's compound, grab a pup, and ask to keep her. That's not how it works." Kaori mildly scolded. "Hell, it's not even right to ask for a pup in general. You have to wait until one is offered to you, based on how well you've bonded with them. It's a _clan_ compound, not a dog compound." She finished. Naruto nodded understandingly.

"Sorry, Kaori." he apologized.

The brunette blew it off, "It's nothing, you didn't know. Besides, knowing my mom, I'm pretty sure that she'll permit you to have Mina as a canine companion anyway. Not many people outside of our clan has an Inuzuka dog as a companion, so if she loans her to you, consider it an honor."

Naruto nods with a grin, "I will."

"Good." she then turned to Hinata. "And who knows, my mom might lend you one as well, Hinata."

Hinata smiled, but shook her head, "I'd be honored, but um, I doubt that my father would allow dogs in his estate..." Hinata mumbled. Kaori sneered, but didn't retaliate.

"Well, if a pup is offered to you, just say that you'd like for her or him to stay in the compound and you could just see him or her outside your 'high-class' estate. I really wouldn't want you to miss out on having a canine companion simply because they're a very special gift to receive. And I wouldn't want you to be the only one on our squad without a pup." Kaori explains. Hinata thinks for a second before giving her answer.

"Sure." she said with a small smile. Kaori grinned.

"I have to admit, it'd be cool for our squad to be the only genin squad to have all three members with canine partners."

Naruto and Hinata had to agree to that.

"Yeah... Anyway, we'd better get going." Naruto declared. "You know how Kurenai-sensei is about 'tardiness'." his two female partners agreed and Naruto placed Mina onto the ground, who seemed a little saddened from being released from Naruto's arms "See you later, Mina-chan! I promise I'll come back after our mission so we can play some more!" he told her. Mina whined and pressed two paws against Naruto's leg, almost seeming as a gesture telling him not to go.

"Aw..." Naruto and Hinata chorused. Naruto frowned. "Look at her, guys... she seems really upset..."

"She must really not want you to go, Naruto-kun..." Hinata said sadly.

"Puppy dog pout." Kaori said flatly, rolling her eyes. "Every dog does it to get what they want. It may seem cute at first, but it gets annoying after a while." she then looks at the half-fox, "Just go get Akamaru-kun for me, brat." she ordered. Mina gave what seemed like a glare at Kaori, but turned around and did as she was told, running off into one of the sheds that the dogs use as their homes.

"She can understand you?" Hinata asked. Kaori nodded.

"All the Inu-pups understand English (Japanese?). It just takes a while for them to learn how to speak. More than half of them are incapable of learning how to speak, though." she tells them. Soon, Akamaru is at Kaori's feet, who is then picked up and placed in Kaori's jacket, Akamaru's second home.

"Alright, lets go."

* * *

"Ah come on, Kakashi... they can't be that bad." Kurenai said sympathetically, although she was grinning.

"I honestly think the Third has it out for me." Kakashi says dryly with a sigh. "Of all the teams I taught before, this one gives me the worst headache."

"But they _did_ pass your test, didn't they?" Kurenai replies, taking a sip of the tea Kakashi bought her.

"Barely." he said flatly. "It's not like I don't think they have potential, I know they do. But it's just hard for them to focus on certain aspects. Well, that goes for the two girls on my team." he says.

"Oh right, you have the last, but oh-so-famous Uchiha on your squad." Kurenai then snickered, "And two die-hard Uchiha fans. Maybe the Hokage does have it out for you." she mocks with a grin. The Man of a Thousand Jutsu rolled his eye.

"Ahahah..." Kakashi mimicked Kurenai's laugh dryly. "Sasuke isn't the one I'm truly concerned about. It's Sakura and Ino, who care more about their looks and getting Sasuke more than their kunoichi duties. And not only is that bad for them, but with their lack of skills, they're slowing down Sasuke as well."

"Does it make you feel better knowing that I have possibly the only two girls in Konoha that actually dislike Sasuke?" Kurenai couldn't help put push Kakashi's buttons.

"Only if you offer to trade teams." the cyclops said hopefully. His shoulders slumped when Kurenai grinned and shook her head.

"Not a chance in Hell. I love my team." she bragged. Kakashi narrowed his eye at his long-time friend.

"I dislike you a lot, Kurenai."

The genjutsu mistress smiled brightly, "I love you too, Kakashi-kun." she then showed a look of sympathy. "Okay, despite how much I love seeing you miserable, I'll work out a deal with you."

"I'm listening." Kakashi said.

"I'll have a girl-on-girl talk with Sakura and Ino regarding their crush, and how they should take their kunoichi duties more seriously, maybe even convince them with a genjutsu if words don't work..." she started with a smirk. Kakashi looked slightly surprised.

"You would do that for me?" he asked before looking at Kurenai suspiciously. "And whats in it for you?"

Kurenai looked around innocently, "Actually, nothing. But..." Kakashi dreaded hearing Kurenai say that word. "You'll have to go on a date with Anko."

"...You hate me, don't you?"

Kurenai laughed, "Oh, Anko isn't _that_ bad. You know she likes you, and you shouldn't just blow her off without giving her a chance." she says after taking another sip of tea. "Besides, I figured that you two would be perfect for each other; a pervert like you, and a freak such as Anko."

"Kurenai, there is a fine line between 'freak' and 'psycho." Kakashi said flatly. "And I'm not a pervert."

"Tell it to the porn in your back pocket." Kurenai fires with a grin. "So will you do it?"

Kakashi hesitated, "...Y-Yeah." he says with a sigh. "But those girls better start taking their careers more seriously after you talk to them."

Kurenai took another sip of tea, waving him off with her free hand, "Don't worry about a thing. I got it all under control." she dismisses. She then grins, "And if you're going to take her out drinking, make sure you buy condoms as well." she advises with a wink. Kakashi raises his eyebrow.

"Why do you say that?"

"Anko's not exactly the type that can hold her alcohol. Once you get around three or four shots in her, she'll throw her morals out the window." she told him with a grin. She then shakes her head, "I'm not supposed to be telling you this, but one time, Anko tried to do something with me when we went out drinking together." she whispered, so that no one else in the restaurant could hear.

Kurenai could see that Kakashi's mask was getting damp with blood.

She laughed, "I don't wanna know whats going on through that corrupted mind of yours, but I'll just leave it to your imagination." she then stood up and gave him a smile. "Thanks again for the tea. But I gotta go on a mission with my squad. Tell Asuma-kun as well, and tell him I'll see him when I get back." she said, still laughing at the nosebleed that was still going on under Kakashi's mask before walking away.

* * *

"Geez Blondie, learn how to clean up once in a while." Kaori commented, looking around Naruto's small apartment with a bit of disgust. There was clothes everywhere, as well as old instant-ramen cups, the dishes were piled up in the kitchen sink, and Kaori almost gagged when she saw a pair of dirty boxers on the floor.

Naruto looked at her, embarrassed, "Ehehe... Sorry, it doesn't usually look like this. Had I known company would be here, I would have cleaned up." he apologized. Kaori shrugged.

"Can't really blame you. My room can get this messy sometimes, too." she confesses. "Good thing you don't have parents chewing on your ass, telling you to clean your room all the time."

"I'd rather have that, then being an orphan." Naruto admits. "It gets kinda lonely here sometimes, being here all by yourself..." he says with a small sigh as he begins to pack what he needs for the upcoming mission. Hinata had decided to split up and prepare herself at the Hyuuga Estate while Naruto does the same with Kaori tagging along to save time. Unbeknown to anyone else, Hinata really regretted that decision, leaving _her _Naruto-kun alone with Kaori...

Kaori, slightly and inwardly saddened by what Naruto said, shrugged. "Well, I mean if you're getting that depressed about having an apartment to yourself with no one bossing you around, I suppose that maybe I can keep you company and spend the night with you sometime."

Naruto immediately stopped what he was doing, and looked at Kaori wide-eyed, the deepest red-blush spreading all over his face.

Kaori, after seeing his look, doesn't realize the hidden meaning behind her choice of words until now and blushes furiously as well, "Whoa, n-not like that! Don't get the wrong fucking idea, Baka!" she quickly defends, stumbling over her words. "I meant that I'd take the couch or something to sleep in! Don't get any funny ideas!" she bursts, her blush reddening even more.

Naruto shakes his head furiously, "O-Of course not! I-I knew what you meant..." he mumbles, still blushing as well.

"Good..." Kaori mumbles, her red tint starting to lose its saturation. "Anyway..."

* * *

Not much later, at the start of sunset, Kaori, Naruto, and Hinata all met up at the entrance of Konoha. Each genin was very excited about their mission that they're minutes away from going on, and were chatting amongst themselves about what to expect.

"Do you think we'll have to kill anybody?"

"I hope not..."

"Oh, don't be a pussy, Hinata! In order to become a real kunoichi, we'll have to kill when needed, remember?"

"Yeah, I guess so... But does it always have to result to violence?"

"I don't care! I love to kick ass! Hehe!"

"Blondie, we all know that you haven't done much ass kicking in your days..."

"Hey! Ya know, I get tired of your put downs sometimes, Kaori-chan!"

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me! Kaori-_chaaannn._"

"..."

"Wait, what are you doing? OW! Hey, thats not supposed to bend like tha- OWW! Stop it! Hinata-chan, a little help please?"

"Sorry, Naruto-kun... you're on your own..."

"Aw come on, that's cold Hinata! AHH! Uncle! I give up! Geez, Kaori, I'm sor- OWWW!"

"Why is it every time I come to meet you guys somewhere, Kaori is always putting you in a weird wrestling position, Naruto-kun?"

"Kurenai-sensei! Help, this chick is crazy!"

"EXCUSE ME?"

"OWWW! Son of a bitch, that hurts!"

Kurenai, who just walked up to her group, couldn't help but laugh. Hinata giggled as well.

"Ahaha... Alright Kaori, let go of Naruto. Lets get a move on to this mission. The sooner we go, the better." Kurenai tells the angry tracker nin. Her anger then flips over like a domino when she smiles brightly, and jumps off of the now twitching blonde.

"Okay, lets go!" Kaori exclaims happily, helping Naruto onto his feet. Naruto dusts his self off, and grumbles to himself.

"That didn't hurt..." he mumbles lowly. But a look in his direction from Kaori told him that she heard him. Regardless, the four continued out of the Gate of Konoha, setting their course for Sunagakure.


	6. Chapter 6

Hey, Kurenai-sensei. Where's Anko-sensei?" Naruto asked after the first ten minutes upon the departure of Konoha. Hinata and Kaori looked at their sensei to see her response, curious as well.

Kurenai looked at Naruto and tried not to smile, "Anko said that she'd meet up with us soon. She said that she had something to take care of."

The way Kurenai said that, it made Naruto a little skeptical. But nonetheless, he nodded and brushed the subject off.

"Hey, sensei." Kaori called out, getting Kurenai's attention. "Whats with that dress? Is it really made of a bandage-like wrap or something? Or...?" she asked, pointing at Kurenai's attire.

The two other genin looked at Kurenai, sharing the same question.

The crimson-eyed beauty smiled, "If it was really made of bandages, it'd take me forever to get in and out of it." she said matter of factly. "But I guess it does look that way... Do you guys like the design?" she asked, stopping and doing a short casual pose.

Hinata smiled, "It looks very pretty, Kurenai-sensei."

Naruto beamed, "Yeah, you look great in it!"

Kaori shrugged, "Eh. It's not really my style. But its okay, I guess."

The Jounin then sees and hears a bushel in a tree rustle, signaling her that the plan is ready.

She smiles, "If you guys will excuse me for a second, I have to use the little ladies room..."

"Out here?" Naruto asks, peaking his eyebrow.

Kaori looks at him, "Obviously. Do you expect us to go all the way back to Konoha just to use the bathroom?"

Naruto shrugged, "I mean yeah, of course not. But isn't it different for a girl? Don't they have to, I dunno... wipe when they're done or something...?" Naruto asked, blushing a little.

Kurenai nodded, "That's why we brought something to wipe with when we packed, right girls?"

Kaori and Hinata nodded.

"That's kinda gross when I get the mental image..." Naruto mumbled, still blushing. Kurenai and Hinata giggled and Kaori rolled her eyes.

"If something like that can gross you out, you still have a lot to learn about us females, Blondie." she said grinning. Kurenai, while still laughing a bit, wondered off the forest path until she was out of sight by her three students.

"Alright, now lets see how well they'll do..." Kurenai whispered to herself, peering through a bush so that she can still look at her team.

* * *

"EW. BLOOD CAN COME OUT OF THERE?" Naruto shouted, eyes wide. Hinata simply decided to stay quiet while Kaori explained.

Kaori laughed, "For nearly a week, yes. Didn't we go over this back in the academy?" she asked him.

Naruto rubbed his head, "Er... I wasn't really paying attention..."

"Not surprised." Kaori said flatly. Naruto gives her a look. "But don't worry, you're on a team with you being the only male on it. I'm sure by the time we become genin, you'll know everything about females that even some other females don't know." she says.

"The question is, do I _want_ to know everything about females..." Naruto says under his breath, turning the other way. Kaori heard him, but decided not to reply to it.

Something told Naruto to duck, because if not, a kunai would have gotten lodged into his skull. He didn't know _where _the weapon came from, but he can only hope that Kaori was testing him.

"K-Kaori! What's wrong with you, you could have killed me just now!" Naruto yells at his brunette teammate. Kaori looks at him, surprised and confused.

"What the fuck are you talking about?" she asked him. Naruto growled, walked over to a tree and pulled out the kunai that got lodged into it.

"You wanna tell me how I just barely managed to dodge this?" he asked her, waving the kunai in her face. Kaori raised an eyebrow and swatted his hand away.

"I didn't throw that at you. I may pull pranks on you and test you every now and then, but I wouldn't throw a fucking kunai at you like that..." she said slowly, looking around at her surroundings. "We might have company..."

"Do you want me to get Kurenai-sensei?" Hinata asked, a little frightened. Just then, a lone, tall figure jumped in front of the three low-ranked shinobi. The first thing they noticed was the pale white skin and a big purple rope-like belt around his waist. He also had long black, straight-lengthed hair and had eyes that eerily resembled a snake's eyes...

"Oh, I don't think you'd want to do that, young one." The stranger said in a slow, smooth tone of voice, looking at the three with a sick grin and crossed arms.

"W-Who are you?" Naruto grunted, getting into fighting stance. In the three weeks that he and his team has been training together, his stance improved from being very sloppy to mildly acceptable.

The intruder grinned at him, "I don't think it matters, my dear Naruto-kun."

Naruto was taken aback, _"How does he know my name?"_

Kaori sneered and used her heightened sense of smell to identify their enemy. She was shocked when she picked up the scent from him. But she grinned, realizing the truth behind all this.

_"Now it makes sense, how Kurenai-sensei just happened to use the bathroom at this particular moment... This is just a test."_

Naruto, being the brash boy that he is, charged at the so called enemy. The pale-skinned fighter had no trouble dodging Naruto's strikes with minimum effort. Hinata hesitantly joined in as well, figuring that Naruto could use her assistance.

_"I could tell them. But I wanna entertain myself with this."_ Kaori thought with a smile, relaxing and seeing how this fight will progress. She laughed when Naruto got picked up by his underwear, then got tossed aside like a rag doll.

Hinata was trying hard to hit the enemy with at least one of her Juuken strikes, and even though she was trying gracefully and expertly, she wasn't landing one hit on him.

The young Uzumaki that just got tossed aside, got up from where he landed and performed his favorite ninjutsu, "Taju Kage-Bunshin no Jutsu!" he grunted and in an instant, more than one hundred Naruto clones poofed into existence. Hinata at this time had gotten expertly thrown by the intruder, into a bush away from the rest of her teammates. Naruto ordered each of the clones to charge and overwhelm the long-haired target. Orochimaru saw this however and either punched, kicked, or threw each and every one of the clones that came his way until he found the real Naruto amongst the clones, who caught a roundhouse kick to the head. Naruto groaned as he landed a few feet from him, feeling absolutely stunned from the blow to the head.

The Sannin then looks over at Kaori, who is just standing there with crossed arms. In an instant, he's directly in front of the Inuzuka, smirking down at her.

"And why aren't you supporting your teammates, young Inuzuka?" he asks.

Kaori shrugs, "Don't want to, I guess." She says matter-of-factly. The enemy then pulls out a kunai and holds it up to Kaori's throat.

"You wouldn't dare," she then smirks. "Anko-sensei."

'Orochimaru' grins and poofs in a puff of smoke, revealing a grinning Anko once the smoke disappears.

She looks toward Kurenai's location, "I told you, Nai-chan."

Kurenai walks over toward where Anko and Kaori were and stops beside Anko. She looks at Kaori with a amused smirk.

"How did you know that was Anko, Kaori?" Kurenai asks. The brunette dog-lover points at her nose.

"This sense of smell isn't just all talk. I knew Anko's scent from the minute I met her, and no simple henge could change it, ya know." she brags. Kurenai and Anko share a look with each other.

"I guess that's why you didn't bother helping Naruto and Hinata. You knew they were in no real danger." says Kurenai. Kaori nodded.

"That, and I figured it would be fun to watch." she says, grinning.

"Don't you think that's kind of mean, Kaori-san?" Hinata asks, walking up behind her two mentors with a twig in her messy hair, walking with a slight limp. Naruto walks up behind her, glaring at her tom-boyish teammate.

"That's fucked up." Naruto says flatly.

Kaori makes an innocent face, "I was just seeing how well my teammates were progressing, that's all!"

Naruto and Hinata share a look at Kaori's lame excuse.

"Well anyway, despite the fact that Kaori was aware that I was trying to test you, you guys did a good job nonetheless." Kurenai says. "But you guys could use more teamwork while fighting. Naruto and Hinata, it'd be best if you fought the enemy together, rather than separately. But depending on the occasion, it's sometimes best to fight separately as well."

Naruto and Hinata nod.

Kurenai then looks over at Kaori, "And you, I'm going to have to figure out a way to get around that nose of yours..."

Kaori grins and shrugs, "Good luck."

* * *

"Kurenai-sensei, how far is Sunagakure from here?" Hinata asks.

"Hm, it'll probably take a day or two to get there. Do you guys want to camp and rest?" Kurenai offers, looking back at her team who was following her while they hope from branch to branch to their destination.

"I would like to rest, Kurenai-sensei. My leg is still a little injured from our spar with Anko..." says Hinata.

"Yeah, same here. I'm a little worn out, too." Naruto mumbles.

Kurenai nods, "And what about you, Kaori?"

The Inu shrugs, "It doesn't matter to me, I'm not tired. I'm just hungry." she says simply. Kurenai nods and signals for Team Eight to halt.

Anko snorts, "Ah, wimps. I say we can still keep going and make it to Suna without rest. It'll be faster that way, anyway."

"Anko, If they're tired, they're tired. There's no need to push them, especially if this isn't a time-sensitive mission." Kurenai says to her fellow Jounin.

"But pushing them will make them stronger. Ever hear of that expression: _Whatever doesn't kill me, can only make me stronger_?"

"Is that the expression that you live by?"

"Pretty much."

"But they're just Genin, Anko. Hinata has a bad leg that _you_ gave her. And keeping her on that leg can't be good for her." Anko rolls her eyes. "Let them rest. Besides, I think I can safely say that we all could use something to eat right about now, right?"

Anko had to admit that she too was getting hungry. "Fine," she then looks over at the three younger shinobi. "But when you three become Chuunin, Kurenai wont be there to save you so easily." she says evilly.

Naruto and Kaori grin, "You don't scare us anymore, sensei." Naruto says.

Anko grins. She pulls out a kunai and twirls the ring end around her finger, but says nothing.

"Um, you still kind of scare me, Anko-sensei..." Hinata says quietly, averting her gaze. Anko smiles warmly (but creepily) and holds her chin to make her look her in the eyes.

"I like you, Hinata-chan." she whispers to her before walking away. Hinata's face looked so red, to the point where one might assume that she was going to blow up.

"Anko, stop terrorizing my students." Kurenai says with a smirk. "And since you know more about this area than I do, do you know if there's a hotel, an inn, or even a spa nearby? That way we don't have to set up camp in the middle of this forest."

Anko puts her finger to her chin, "Nope. Looks like we're camping it out today guys." Anko says.

* * *

Soon, the group had stopped in a clearing of the woods between Suna and Konoha, with two tents pitched up. Naruto and is clones had already gathered wood to start a campfire, and Kurenai just finished setting up the second tent.

"Now," she says after crawling out of the tent to make sure it was secure. "We only have two tents between us, so that means that we'll have to share." she tells her group.

Hinata was hoping that Kurenai would decide to share a tent with Anko and Kaori... that way she could have Naruto to herself.

Naruto wanted to share a tent with one of his sensei's... for obvious reasons.

Anko wanted to share a tent with Naruto to either tease and torture him some more or to find out more about him and his techniques... she was curious about the Kyuubi as well. She also wanted to share a tent with Kaori and/or Hinata to find out their interest in Naruto and possibly tease them about it. In general, Anko felt like teasing someone, so it didn't matter who she was going to share a tent with in her opinion. She also knew that Kurenai wouldn't dare to have Naruto pair up with a girl his age, given her always careful nature.

Kaori wouldn't mind sharing a tent with Naruto. She wouldn't mind sharing one with Hinata, simply because they never discussed her feelings about Naruto, with that time three weeks ago being the closest they've gotten toward such a matter. She personally grew to like Anko, and gained respect for Kurenai as well. Kaori didn't care who she would be paired with. Just as long as she got to sleep and eat.

Kurenai wouldn't take a chance and have Naruto share a sleeping tent with either of his teammates. It's not that she didn't trust her students, but she was well aware of teenage temptation, and accidents could happen. So on that note, she figured out who was going to be paired up with who.

"Anko will share a tent and supervise over Kaori and Hinata, and I'll do the same with Naruto."

Kaori's jealousy started to kick in.

Same with Hinata's.

Naruto tried his best not to show his joy in hearing Kurenai's words.

Anko momentarily glimpsed at Hinata and Kaori with a small devious grin.

"Is everyone satisfied with this?" Kurenai asked.

Kaori nodded, _"Well, it's better than having Anko go with him."_

Hinata hesitantly nodded, _"Man-stealer..."_

Naruto had no problem agreeing, _"Kami has a heart after all..."_

Anko looked at her friend and smiled, _"This is going to be an interesting night."_

Kurenai almost seemingly hears Anko's thoughts and shook her head at her with a smirk.


	7. Chapter 7

"So since we have food and clothes in our storage scrolls, I guess we can just go straight to bed and restart our journey at the crack of dawn. I'm getting a little tired as well, so I guess I'll see you all in the morning." Kurenai says with a yawn before walking in her tent to change and get ready for bed.

Anko sits down and pulls out a storage scroll, "I'm not tired, but I am starving. I'm just going to sit out here and eat for a little bit." She then looks at the three Genin. "Anyone wanna join me?"

"I'll definitely join you, Anko-sensei." says Kaori, sitting down next to said Jounin. "I've been starving since we left Konoha."

"I'll stay too." Hinata says. "I'm kind of hungry as well..."

Naruto shrugs, "I guess I can eat something before I go to bed. It's kind of a shitty feeling to wake up hungry." he says and everyone had to agree.

Hinata then points at the item Anko pulled out of her storage scroll, "Um, Anko-sensei? What is that?"

Anko looks at her as if she had two heads on her shoulders, "You never heard of Dango before?"

"I heard of it, but I um.. never saw one before- Hmph!" Next thing Hinata knew, there was a dango dumpling covered with sweetened red bean paste lodged right in her mouth, the sweet taste overriding any surprised emotions. "Mm... it's very tasty..." she mumbled after chewing and swallowing.

Anko grinned, "Damn right it is. These little babies here are one of Kami's greatest creations. I don't know what I'd do without them." Anko says, waving a dango skewer between her fingers while two were already in her mouth. "I usually don't share them with _anyone_, but I like you guys and I brought enough to share."

"Well don't just sit there, toss one of those babies my way!" Kaori exclaims.

Anko grins, "Well, since you asked so nicely." And Anko flung a skewer at Kaori as if it was a kunai. The Inuzuka heiress had no problem catching the object in her mouth.

"Would you want one as well, Naruto-kun?" Anko asked sweetly, making Naruto blush a little.

"Yes, please..." he says and got prepared for an incoming skewer that Kaori received in a similar matter. "He was surprised when Anko simply got up and handed one to him.

"These things aren't half bad." Kaori says with a full mouth, having taken all three of the dumplings off the skewer stick into her mouth in one go.

Naruto took one bite off of one of the dumplings, expecting a taste that his taste buds would approve of. He flinched and spat the piece of dango out, which Anko caught in a flash before the piece hit the ground. The scary Jounin lady looked at Naruto with an offended, confused look.

"What the hell's the matter with you?" she asked.

Naruto showed a disgusted look on his face and shook his head, "Yuck! Those things are way too sweet for my tastes." he replied, still trying to get the sweet taste out of his mouth.

Even Hinata and Kaori were surprised at this. Anko simply shrugs and takes another bite from her third dango piece, "You're one of the only people I know that turned down dango. Sucks for you though, that means more for us." she says simply.

"Um... are you really going to eat that piece that Naruto spit out...?" Hinata asks, afraid of Anko's answer.

Anko put the saliva covered piece of dumping into her mouth, disgust evident on Naruto and Hinata's faces. "But of course. I'd never let a piece of dango go to waste."

"That's...disgusting." Naruto comments, his eye twitching. Anko winks at him and shrugs.

"I actually agree with Ms. Scary here." Kaori says nonchalantly. "I'd rather eat a vegetable then let some food go to waste."

Anko gives Kaori a high-five, "Kaori, I think this is going to be the start of a beautiful relationship." she says, reaching in her scroll for two more skewers, handing another one to her. Kaori smirks and nods her head.

"I agree." she says, taking a dumpling into her mouth with delight.

"Yuck, you two are so weird." Naruto mumbles, and Anko and Kaori nodded there heads to that statement in agreement. "I'll stick to my ramen. That's _really_ Kami's greatest creation." he sighs as he takes a cup of instant ramen out of his own storage scroll.

Anko looks at him, "Ew, you mean that salty soup with the soggy noodles in it? I'll pass."

"WHAT?" Naruto exclaims, anyone within a 50-yard radius hearing him. "Did you just dis ramen? Have you even tried it?"

"Yes, I have. And like I said, all it is is just soggy noodles soaked in salty water." she says flatly, continuing on with her fifth skewer.

Naruto couldn't believe what he was hearing. He then looked at his two teammates. "Kaori, which do you think is better; Ramen or Dango?"

"Sorry Blondie, but I'm going to have to side with sensei on this one." Kaori laughed at his facial reaction. "Don't get me wrong, ramen is one of the best things I've ever eaten, but dango is more of my tastes, even though there's no meat involved with it." she shrugs. Naruto sighs.

"What about you, Hinata-chan?"

The Hyuuga smiles at him, "I think ramen is better, Naruto-kun."

Naruto smiles at her while Anko and Kaori roll their eyes. "Ah, you're just saying that because you're in love with the guy." Anko says flatly, making Hinata blush. She shakes her head vigorously.

"N-No! I-I honestly think ramen is better... Dango is great and all, but when it comes to ramen, I've never wanted to eat so much of any one thing before..." she defends. Naruto smiles and gives Hinata a big hug, almost making her melt in his arms.

"See? At least one of us has great tastes." he says flatly. Kaori and Anko just roll their eyes before going back to eating some more dango. Naruto had ignited the campfire and boiled a pot of water above it to cook and prepare the cups of instant ramen.

At this time, Kurenai walked out of her tent and was welcomed to the sight of Naruto and Hinata sharing cups of ramen, and Kaori and Anko sharing dango dumpling skewers. She changed into her sleeping clothes; a pair of red baggy pajama pants with a plain black small tank-top. Her hair was also pulled back into a curly ponytail.

"I smell something delicious. Ramen and Dango, my favorites." she sighs happily.

All four ninja look at her and all asks her one question simultaneously, "Which do you think is better? Ramen or Dango?"

Kurenai chuckles, "Huh?"

"You're going to be the deciding vote, Kure-chan." Anko says. "If you say that Ramen is better, don't expect to have any of my Dango tonight."

"And if you say Dango is better, you're not having any ramen, sensei." Naruto says.

"So which do you think is better?" Kaori asks.

Kurenai laughs and gives her answer, "I love them both the same amount." And before anyone could say anything, Kurenai retreated back into her tent, with three dango skewers and three cups of ramen.

"Fatass." Anko grumbled in the direction of Kurenai's tent.

* * *

Soon, everyone's stomach's were satisfied with either dango or ramen and retreated back into their respective tents with content stomachs. Naruto was welcomed to the sight of Kurenai sitting cross legged, slurping on the last bit of her ramen noodles. Kurenai smiled once she saw him.

"You're not sore at me for my decision, are you Naruto-kun?" she asked sweetly. Naruto smiled coyly, unable to resist Kurenai's smile.

"Of course not, sensei." he replies honestly, blushing. "Kurenai smiles.

"Aw, you're such a sweetheart." she compliments, making his blush even redder. "Have you mastered that jutsu scroll I gave you?" she asks.

Naruto shrugs, "Almost... It's kind of hard to learn, but I'm sure I can get it down soon. I actually brought it with me to work on during our free time."

"Good. And don't worry, we'll move on to working on hand seals once we get back to Konoha, so learning it will be a little easier for you." she tells him, and he nods.

"And um, don't get sore at me for asking this since this is a personal question, but... do you like Kaori? Or Hinata, perhaps?"

* * *

"Um, guys? I um, know that it's just us girls here, but... I can't help but feel uncomfortable..." Hinata mumbles with a deep red blush tinting her pale cheeks. Anko was dressed in nothing but an all black bra with matching underwear, which was just a _little_ less provocative than what someone would recognize as a thong. Kaori was no better, as she was wearing a small red tube top with a big black paw print on the front that did nothing to hide her abdominal area and stomach. She had on matching red panties, which were red in the front and black in the back.

"Feel uncomfortable with what?" Kaori asks while scratching Akamaru's belly, who was loving every minute of it.

"With what you're, um... wearing." Hinata replied slowly. Anko and Kaori shared looks.

"This is what I usually wear to bed." Kaori says simply.

"Same here." Anko added in.

"S-Seriously...?"

Kaori rolled her eyes, "Listen, I'm completely comfortable with my body, and I, for the life of me, cannot sleep with too much clothes on. I just don't find it necessary, no matter who else is in the room with me."

"Exactly," Anko agreed. "Just be glad that I have enough decency not to sleep naked today. Any other day, if I felt like it, my birthday suit would be my outfit to wear to bed."

Hinata blushed even more, while Kaori gave Anko a high five in agreement.

"B-But," Hinata sputtered. "What if Kurenai-sensei were to enter while we're sleeping?" Her blush took over her whole face at this thought, "Or even Naruto-kun?"

Anko laughs, "Well honestly, Nai-chan already saw me nude. It has nothing to do with sexual preference, we're just that comfortable around each other. And as for Naru-kun..." Anko just left it at that, ending the sentence with a grin. She laughed at Hinata's horrified expression. "Just kidding. He's still a minor, and I wouldn't do that to him. We have sleeping bags, so it's not like we wont be covered up."

Kaori chided in, "Even still, the boy is on a squad with all female members. He's going to see something eventually, whether we want him to or not." she says with a shrug and Anko nodded. "That doesn't mean that we should just not care and wait for him to see, though. All I'm saying is what if on a mission, we take a break and spend the night at a unisex bathing spa? Then what?"

Hinata couldn't think of anything to say, but simply blushed.

"I guess you're right... I think." Hinata finally says, unsure with whether or not she agrees with Kaori's hypothesis. "It's just that... back at the Hyuuga Estate-"

"Back at the Hyuuga Estate, it's like a boarding school with way too many rules that you can easily get punished for." Anko interrupted with a flat tone of voice. "I know, I had a Hyuuga friend back when I was your age. Hannah Hyuuga, maybe you've heard of her?"

Hinata thought for a second, then shook her head. Anko shrugged and reached up to untie her hair from it's weirdly styled ponytail. "Oh well, I think she died during a mission a few years back. Anyway, all I'm saying is that when you're with Kaori and I, you can do whatever you like, and we wont judge you." she says honestly.

Kaori nods, "I know we may be brash and have that 'I-don't-give-a-shit' attitude, but we're probably one of the most friendliest and least judgmental people you'll ever meet." she tells her teammate. At this time, Akamaru walked over toward Anko, who started to pet him as well.

"We're not telling you or forcing you to sleep in nothing but your underwear, but all we ask is that you try it. That high-maintenance Hyuuga lifestyle that you were brought up to live like isn't that fun, and is too strict in our opinion, so maybe doing that will be your first step to having more fun and freedom. But again, you don't have to if you don't want to. We're not trying to peer pressure you into it, and it wont change our opinion about you." Anko tells her.

A few seconds had passed and they were surprised when Hinata started to strip out of her baby blue pajamas.

"Wow...!" Anko commented with a full-blown smile. "I honestly didn't think you'd have the balls to do it!" she exclaims.

"Yeah baby, take it off!" Kaori almost shouts jokingly, but encouragingly. Hinata blushes at this and hides her face in her hands once she steps out of her pajamas.

"Guys, please don't stare..." Hinata says coyly, obviously embarrassed. Kaori grins.

"I'm glad to see that I'm not the only flat-chested girl in this tent." she says blatantly. Hinata's blush gets even redder at this. "But don't be embarrassed about it, we're only thirteen. It's just that 'Snake-Lady' over here makes us look as flat as a board compared to her jugs." she says, pointing over at her side toward Anko. The Jounin snickers.

"Ah, it doesn't matter, I was the same size as you two when I was your age, and now look at me!" Anko beams, shamelessly palming each of her breasts. Hinata makes an 'eep!' sound and hides her face again. "You'll start budding soon, trust me." she says.

"I'm sure I will, considering that I have my mom's genes in me." Kaori says. She then looks over at Hinata. "And Hinata, how do you feel? You know, being half naked and all?" she asks with a smirk. Hinata peers her reddened face out of her palms.

"I... It feels weird, actually..." she admits.

"Just relax." Anko says. "You can be your complete self around us. Come. Come sit next to us."

Hinata hesitantly walks over toward Anko and Kaori and places a seat between them, her blush still showing, but lessening it's hue. Anko grins and whispers in Hinata's ear.

"If Naruto-kun were to look at you now, he'd have a heart attack..."

Hinata had to wipe her nose from the nosebleed that dribbled toward her lip. It was almost unnoticeable, since the blood almost camouflaged with her facial blush. Anko simply doubled over in laughter. It's so fun messing with people...

"Speaking of Naruto..." Kaori says in a slow, almost teasing tone of voice. "There's something I've been meaning to ask you, Hinata..."

* * *

"I see..." Kurenai says with a slight blush. Her blush had nothing on Naruto's, however, and the two were avoiding each other's gaze. "Naruto... you do understand the age difference between us, right?"

"Y-Yeah, but..." Naruto mumbles, "I find you very attractive, sensei..."

Kurenai gives him a small smile, "Thank you, Naruto-kun." she then gently pulls his chin so that they're meeting each other eye to eye. "But I'm almost old enough to be your mother. You should go for somebody your own age."

Kurenai sees the disappointment on his face. She smiles at him, "Besides, you don't want this old bag of bones, do you?"

"Sensei, with all due respect, you are nowhere near old."

Kurenai laughs, "I guess I'm not. But still, you should find someone in your age group, and I'm practically twice your age. It's flattering that you find me attractive though." She then leans in closer to whisper to him. "And I'm not supposed to be telling you this, but I have a feeling that Hinata or Kaori may have a crush on you..." she whispers with a smirk.

Naruto's eyes widen, "S-Seriously? What would they see in me?" he asks.

Kurenai gives him a warm smile, "A lot of things, Naruto-kun. You're very smart and very creative. Also, I think you deserve points for mastering a ninjutsu that even I, a Jounin in her mid-twenties, haven't even mastered yet." Naruto smiles. "You're strong, persistent, and one of the most nicest and caring person I've ever come across in my whole life."

Naruto blushes, "You're just saying that to make me feel better."

"No," Kurenai shakes her head. "I'm not. These are all facts, Naruto-kun. You're modest, fun to be around, and so full of life. You're a leader and I can really see you becoming the next Hokage. And honestly," Kurenai smirks, "You're quite the looker. To be completely honest with you Naruto-kun, I'd totally give you a chance if you were more around my age..."

Naruto blushes and smiles, "Thank you, Kurenai-sensei."

"No need to thank me, you need to hear and know these wonderful things about you, because not many people have as many great qualities as you." she says warmly. "Any girl would be lucky to have you, especially since you're such a charmer and sweetheart, especially at such a young age." She tells him, pinching his cheek.

Naruto gives a small, shy smile, "Thanks..." he then blushes. "So... what makes you think that Hinata or Kaori may like me?"


	8. Chapter 8

Dawn was beginning to settle in over the campsite, and the birds were just beginning to chirp a cheery tone. The grass was moist with dew, and the early morning mist was giving the air a refreshing scent.

Kaori was the first one to wake up, having had a dream involving sex and steak sauce. Needless to say, Kaori woke up with a grin on her face. Stretching her limbs and rubbing her eyes to get the morning crust out, Kaori got up out of her sleeping bag slowly, and looked around the tent she was in.  
She grinned upon seeing a snoozing Anko on her back. She was snoring quite loudly and drool was sliding down her cheek and onto her sleeping bag's pillow.

"If I had to guess, I'd assume the chick is dreaming about sex with that Kakashi guy and dango." Kaori thought to herself. She smirked and shook her head. "I can smell her arousal from here..."

She then looked over at Hinata, who actually was just waking up as well. She was sitting up and rubbing her eyes, groaning and moaning as she was drifting back into the real world.

"Sleep well, princess?" Kaori teased, rustling through her already wild hair. Hinata looked at her and smiled.

"Good morning, Kaori-san. And yes, I slept very comfortably."

Kaori chuckled. "Yeah, because you didn't have all of those constricting clothes on you while you slept."

Hinata blushed a bit, "I guess..." She then looked back at her teammate. "Is Kurenai-sensei or Naruto-kun awake yet?"

"I dunno." Kaori answered. "I just woke up not long before you."

"Do you think we should wake our sensei's up now?"

The Inuzuka Heiress shrugged, "I guess so." She then looked at Anko. "But I think she could use a little bit more time to sleep. I can tell that she's having a very good dream right now, and I know she'll be pissed if we woke her up from it."

Hinata raised an eyebrow, "How can you tell?"

Kaori sniffed the air, smirked, and shook her head, "If I told you that, you'd be very grossed out."

Hinata was about to ask what she meant by that, but decided against it.

* * *

Soon, the pair got dressed and exited the tent. They walked over to Naruto's and Kurenai's shared tent, but before they called Kurenai's name to wake her up, they heard something coming from said tent that made the stop all immediate actions...

"Ahh... N-Naruto-kun, not so deep..."

Hinata and Kaori shared looks.

"Sorry sensei... Do you want me to pull it out?"

"Y-Yeah..." They heard Kurenai groan. "And this time, put it in slower. Here, I'll guide your hand while you do it."

Kaori and Hinata were bug-eyed.

"Do you hear this shit, or am I bugging the fuck out...?" Kaori whispered to Hinata. Hinata's whole face was as red as the rising sun.

"Kaori-san, calm down... I-I'm sure that there is a little misunderstan-"

"Does it still hurt, sensei?" They heard Naruto's voice.

"Yeah, a little... you'd think that I'd be used to this after doing it so much..."

This time, Kaori's facial blush was almost as red as Hinata's. Hinata herself was even starting to catch a nosebleed.

"She's... A whore...!" Kaori whispered, flabbergasted.

"What do you think we should do...?" Hinata asked, feeling a bunch of mixed amount of emotions at this point.

"I don't know about you, but I think we should catch the slut in the act...!" Kaori almost shouted. Hinata was about to disagree, before-

"Mmngh... N-Naruto-kun, you're still putting it in too fast..."

Oh geez, I'm sorry sensei... It just slides in so easily."

Kaori and Hinata shared another look.

"It's okay, this is just your first time. Next time we do this, I'm sure you'll be better at it."

Kaori heard enough.

"Gotcha! You filthy, craddle-robbing, slutty little bit-!"

She stopped herself upon seeing Naruto holding a needle inside of Kurenai's arm. The blonde and brunette Jounin were looking at her questioningly.

"Er... What are you guys doing?" Kaori asked slowly.

"I'm teaching Naruto the proper way to inject a substance into someone's bloodstream... Why?" Kurenai stated.

Kaori hasn't felt this embarrassed in a long time...

"Well... Er, Hinata and I, were um..." Kaori peeped out of the tent only to find that Hinata was nowhere in sight.

"Fuckin' coward..." she mumbled to herself. "Um... I just wanted to make sure you guys were up and ready to leave, that's all..."

* * *

Soon, everyone was up and dressed, including Anko. Everyone packed their belongings back into their respective storage scrolls and left the campsite, hardly leaving any evidence that they were there at all.

"So, did you sleep well, Scary Snake Lady?" Kaori asked Anko with a smirk as everyone continued their journey to Sunagakure, Anko looked at her and smiled.

"Mm, yes, I did." She sighed, almost moaned, happily. "I had such a relaxing dream, I almost didn't want to wake up."

Kaori snickered, "Ha, I'm sure."

Anko was about to ask why she said that, but simply shrugged, closing her eyes and resting her hands behind her head as she walked. She then smirked and looked at Kaori with one eye.

"Did you have any interesting dreams about Naruto-kun that I should know about...?" Anko whispered so that the rest of the group that was walking ahead of them wouldn't hear. Kaori rolled her eyes.

"Listen, just because I said that I have an interest in the guy, doesn't mean that I'm in love with him." She snarled lowly. Anko just smiled and re-closed her eyes.

"You say that now..." She mumbled in a sing-song tone of voice, which irritated the tracker-nin.

"Please. Hinata's the one in love with him, and if they end up together, whoopdee-fucking-doo. I'll find someone else." She grumbled. Anko couldn't stop smirking, which was pissing Kaori off.

"Whoever mentioned anyone ending up with anyone? All I asked was if you had an interesting dream about him; no mentioning of love or relationships or anything."

"But I know where you were fucking going with it."

"Whoa, getting mad, Kaori-chan?"

Kaori took a deep breath, "Anko-sensei, you're starting to piss me off."

"I know." Anko replied, still grinning.

"Bitch."

"I think that title belongs to you, don't you think, Dog Lady?"

"Anko, I swear to God..."

"God is dog spelled backwards."

That last comment wasn't even that relevant to the conversation, but the way Anko said it pissed Kaori off even more.

"I fucking hate you."

"I love you too, baby." Anko teased with a wink. Kaori simply gave up and decided to stop talking. Anko had the upper hand, and had a comeback for everything she said.

_"Why the hell did I even admit how I felt about Blondie to this bitch anyway...?"_

Up ahead, Hinata and Naruto were talking to each other, with Naruto explaining to Hinata everything that Kurenai taught him this morning. Hinata was relieved upon knowing that nothing went on between Kurenai and Naruto.

"Yeah, so when the needle is in there, you have to be very careful with your hand movements or else you could puncture something that you're not supposed to." Naruto explained to her. Hinata was loving the attention that Naruto was giving her, especially since she now knows that Anko, Kurenai, and Kaori were now out of the picture when it came to winning Naruto's heart. "And once you put the substance into the blood stream, you're supposed to slowly take it out and cover the wound with a cotton ball or band-aid right away." He told her with a smile.

Hinata giggled, "Gee Naruto-kun, you sound like you could be a nurse or doctor or something."

Naruto thought for a minute and grinned goofily, "Hm, Dr. Naruto Uzumaki... sounds kinda awesome!" Naruto said, making Hinata laugh.

Kurenai, who was ahead of them, looked over her shoulder and grinned. She knew that her talk with him yesterday helped clear some things up, and night even get Naruto a girlfriend. And even Kurenai had to admit that Hinata and Naruto looked good together.

As Hinata and Naruto and Hinata (mostly Naruto) continued to flirt and talk, Kaori was behind them, looking at the pair with envy and disgust, but not showing it externally.

"Something bothering you, Kaori-chan?"

Kaori was really starting to hate the sound of Anko's voice at this point. Deciding to make a smart decision, Kaori simply ignored her.

"You know, if you really do like him, you should make it known. If you don't, you could really be missing out on something great."

Kaori looked at Orochimaru's ex-disciple, "Can you cut it out with that shit already? I'm telling you for the last time, I don't like Naruto ALL that much."

Anko momentarily stopped grinning and looked back at her.

"Who are you trying to convince? Me? Or yourself?"

Kaori didn't have an answer.

* * *

As the group continued down the forest, the climate started to get warmer and the air started feeling drier. Kurenai and Anko knew that Sunagakure was getting close, and the desert that they had to travel through was getting closer. Eventually, they reached it, with there being a borderline between trees and grass to nothing but rock and sand.

"We have to walk through this shit?" Kaori asked, looking ahead to what seemed like an endless desert.

"Nah, not at all. We can just sprout our wings right now and fly to Suna." Anko said with a smile. Kaori sneered at her sarcasm.

"Well, we won't get far by just standing here. Lets get a move on." Kurenai said, and everyone nodded. "But I'll warn you guys though, it's gonna be a really hot and long walk there."

"Pshh," Naruto dismissed. "I'm sure it's nothing we can't handle." he said confidently.

* * *

**_*45 Minutes Later*_**

"Holy fuck...! How can people walk through here...?" Naruto panted, his whole body covered in a layer of perspiration. He no longer had his bright orange jacket on, tying the sleeves around his waist to save himself from carrying it in his hands. He took his headband off a while ago, putting the item in his coat pocket. His blonde hair was drenched in sweat, his short bangs hanging right above his eyebrows.

Kaori was equally as hot. Her skin was glistening with sweat, her wild brown hair becoming frizzy. She shed her hoody a while back, mimicking Naruto's idea by tying the sleeves around her waist. She also wanted to take her tank top that was under it off, and just walk around in her bra (And was even tempted to take that off too...). Poor Akamaru couldn't even walk in the sand properly, and it was too hot for him to walk anyway, so Kaori had let him rest atop of her head, getting snuggled up in her damp hair.

Hinata was starting to breath hard and realized that she has never sweat so much in her thirteen years of being on this planet. Despite her morals telling her not to, she took off her jacket as well and followed what Kaori and Naruto did with theirs. Her usual beautiful and glorious lavender hair was now moist and frizzy.

Anko was sweating like hell, but it didn't affect her too much since she'd gone through much worse conditions in the past. Her trench coat was in her storage scroll, and she now wore nothing but a bra and her fishnet shirt on her torso. If it were just Kurenai and herself on this mission, she would have stripped almost everything off of her completely.

Kurenai was suffering a bit because she was wearing a dress and couldn't take that off in front of all the minors, mainly Naruto. She did, however, take her hitai-ate off and tied her damp hair back into a ponytail.

"This is nothing," Anko replied. "You should see how cold it is going to the land of snow. It's much worse than coming here."

"Kurenai-sensei, do you have anymore water?" Hinata asked. Kurenai nodded and reached into her storage scroll, handing her a bottled water. Hinata thanked her and drank some of it before pouring some on her face.

"Anyone else want some water?" Kurenai asked. Everyone nodded and got a container, doing the same thing that Hinata did with hers.

"Kurenai-sensei, when we come back from Suna, can we do it in the night time? That way we wont have to go through this again...?" Naruto asked.

"Kurenai looked at him, "Well deserts, especially this one, get very cold at night, despite how hot they are during the day. Are you sure you want to do that?"

"I agree with Naruto-kun." Hinata said. "I think going at night will be a lot better."

"Same here." Kaori chided in. "I'd rather freeze my ass of than melt to death."

"The children have spoken, Nai-chan." Anko says with a grin. Kurenai shrugs.

"Okay, whatever you guys want. But I warn you, when I say that it gets cold, it _really_ gets cold." Kurenai said carefully.

"I'd still rather be cold than hot." Kaori said and the rest of the Genin nodded.

* * *

Eventually, the group reached the alley-like entrance to Sunagakure and stopped once two guards approached them.

"Halt. State your business."

Kurenai stepped forward, "My name is Yuuhi Kurenai from Konohagakure, and the Hokage has requested for my group and I to deliver this letter to the Kazekage for a mission." Kurenai stated professionally, holding up the letter given to her by the Hokage. The guards nodded and moved aside to let them through.

Soon, after walking through the alley of rock that was the entrance of Suna, they entered into the village, their eyes meeting nothing but magnificent tan and brown buildings of sand and rock.

"Well, here we are. Sunagakure no Sato." Kurenai sighs with a smile.


	9. Chapter 9

"Yeah, yeah, we're in Suna now. Great, now can we find a hotel or something so I can take a shower?" Kaori asked, annoyance evident in her tone of voice.

"I think we all could use a shower right about now, Kaori." Kurenai agreed. "I guess finding a room or two to rent wouldn't be a bad idea." Kurenai started walking, signaling for the rest to follow.

As the group walked down the streets of Suna, the group got a decent tour. Naruto didn't see not one ramen bar on their way to find an inn, and Anko couldn't find a Dango shop, however.

"This place is dead." They both thought flatly. Anko and Kurenai, however, (But mostly Anko) were getting quite a few looks and catcalls by the men in the village, and glares and eyerolls from the women. Anko grinned; she liked the attention. She knew better than to return the looks and reply to the comments and just ignore them, but still loved how much attention she was getting, even if it was because of her semi-exposed chest and legs. Anko was far from a slut however, despite some of her suggestive clothing or provacative actions. Most of the men in Konoha would easily point to Anko if asked to define the word 'tease', and anyone who had the privledge of nailing her would definitely gain some props among the men. As far as they knew, Anko may as well have been called a virgin, seeing as no one ever claimed having sexual relations with the almost sadistic woman.

Soon, the group found a small inn with the name 'Cobra Inn'. As they entered and walked up to the manager behind a counter, Kurenai ordered rooms for five and asked if dogs were allowed. Thankfully, the clerk said yes. He told them that each room had two queen-sized beds with a couch inside, which was perfect for a group of five, excluding Akamaru. Kurenai told the clerk that they wouldn't be staying all night, but the clerk replied, saying that it's the same price either way. Kurenai sighed, but paid the man regardless. He then gave Kurenai the key to room 305, which was on the third floor of the building.

When Team 8 found their room, they were welcomed to see a decent sized room with one bathroom, a couch, and two queen-sized beds, just as the man said. At the back of the room, there was a door to a balcony, which gave a good view of part of the village.

"Shit, we might as well spend the night here and get your money's worth, Kure-chan." Anko said after whistling at the nicely prepared room.

"Yes, we could leave tomorrow at dusk, especially since the walk through the desert took a lot out of us today." Hinata says.

"Exactly," Kaori agreed. "Besides, sleeping here beats sleeping in a sleeping bag in the middle of a forest any day."

Kurenai had to agree as well, "Sounds good to me. We might as well take a mini-vacation on our first C-ranked mission." Kurenai says with a smile. "This could also give us a good insight at what this village looks like, because I'm sure this isn't the last time we'll be here." She adds.

"I call first shower!" Naruto exclaimed and ran into the bathroom. All the women in the room chuckled.

"The brat is getting smarter and faster." Anko commented.

Soon, everyone was freshly showered and clothed, having spare outfits in their storage scrolls. Hinata, Kaori, Naruto, and Anko each left their coats and jackets in the room as they set out for the Kazekage's tower.

"Anko, can you please buy a shirt while we're here?" Kaori complained. "No one here wants to look at your tits all day. Well, aside from Naruto." She snickered as Naruto sent her a look.

Anko waved her off, "It's too hot for a shirt. Besides, I wanna work on my tan."

"With a mesh shirt on? You'll look like an ass with those tan marks." Kaori told her harshly, but honestly.

Kurenai grinned, "She's right, Anko."

The other Jounin shrugged, "Eh, I suppose she is." And with that, she took off her mesh shirt out in the open, getting even more cat calls from the nearby men. One guy even ran into a pole, not paying attention as he had his eyes glued on Anko. "Happy?" She asked with a smirk. Hinata and Naruto both blushed.

"Kami, I understand being comfortable with your body, but you go too damn far with it..." Kaori mumbled, looking away.

"Oh, calm down. You see nothing more than what you would have with the mesh shirt on." Anko rolled her eyes. Everyone saw that Anko already had barely noticable tan lines due to her mesh shirt, from their walk through the desert.

"But still..." Kaori groaned.

"Ah, shut up. This is better than wearing a bikini, which some of the women in this village are, due to going to spas and local pools and whatnot." Anko then grins. "Not my fault I have a sexier body than them..."

Most of the women that heard her scoffed and walked away.

"Anko, you're the worst." Kurenai tells her with a grin. "As much as I hate to say it though, you are right. Some women are wearing bikini's and you're actually doing better than that. But, I do ask that you buy a tube top or something while we're here. We don't want to attract too much attention to ourselves since we're from Konoha, and while we may be on slightly friendly terms with Suna, it doesn't mean that we should get too comfortable around them." She said quietly.

"Fine." Anko huffs, "I'll work on my tan some other time."

After they stopped by a clothing store so Anko could buy a black tube top, which still showed plenty of stomach and cleavage, they arrived at the Kazekage's tower. The assistant, after hearing what they wanted from the Kazekage, had taken the letter to give to the leader of this village. Needless to say, the genin on the squad were expecting more out of the delivery; expecting to meet the Kazekage himself, or something of the sort.

Soon, as they walked back to the hotel, dusk was already starting to fall over the village, and the temperature was dropping fast. The group had made it back inside the room before it got uncomfortably cold, especially given their lack of layers.

"Well, that was boring." Kaori grumbled, taking her sandals off as she layed on one of the beds with Akamaru.

"What did you expect? Random Suna-nin to attack us or something?" Anko asked, adjusting her bra.

Kaori shrugged, "Hell, maybe. We're not in Konoha at the moment, so who knows what might happen."

"This is just a simple delivery mission, Kaori." Kurenai chided in. "If there were a higher chance of confrontation, then the mission probably would have been bumped up to a B-rank."

"Ah, whatever. At least we got out the damn village for once." Kaori huffs. Naruto then exits out of the bathroom and sees that everyone had changed into their pj's as well. While he changed in the bathroom Naruto was surprised when he saw Anko and Kaori, who were sitting on their shared bed, wearing nothing but a t-shirt and panties. He was embarrased that he was the only male on his squad, but deep inside, his hormonal side wanted to kiss the floor and thank Kami for blessing him this way.

Kaori saw him blush and grinned, "What's the matter, Blondie? Never seen a girls underwear before?" She teased. His blushed deepened and gave her a glare.

"Sh-Shut up!" Was the only thing he could think to say on the spot.

"I apologize, Naruto-kun." Kurenai sighed. "I begged them to put on some pants, but they claimed that they didn't bring any."

"Well, I know I didn't. And you can't blame me, because I wasn't expecting to share a room with Naruto-kun here." Anko says with a wink in Naruto's direction. His blush grew even deeper.

"If you say so, Anko." Kurenai playfully rolled her eyes. "But I'm tired, so I'm going to go get some shut-eye. Goodnight everyone." Kurenai tells them as she gets snuggled up in the bed that she'll be sharing with Hinata.

"Me too. Night." Anko says before rolling over onto her side of the bed.

Kaori yawns, "I'm out, too." She then places Akamaru in the middle of the bed, between her and Anko. But before the puppy gets too comfortable, Anko rolls over and looks at Kaori.

"Hell no. Sorry to say it, but puppy here has got to go."

Akamaru turns toward Anko and barks at her. Anko grins at him. "Yes, I meant you, pup."

"Why can't he sleep here?" Kaori asks in an offended tone.

"Unless you want me to roll over on top of him or accidentally kick him off the bed in my sleep, I don't think that keeping him in this bed would be a good idea." Anko says simply. Kaori rolls her eyes.

"Well, he ain't sleeping on the floor." She states.

"He can sleep with me." Kurenai says and smiles at the Inuzuka pup. "Come here, Akamaru-kun. I'll beat up the mean and nasty Anko tomorrow." Kurenai teases, making Anko scoff playfully. Akamaru barks happily and jumps onto Kurenai's bed, getting snuggled in her lap as they both start falling asleep.

Hinata, who was sitting on the couch, looked at Naruto, "Um, are you going to bed too?"

Naruto shook his head, "Nah, not right now. I'm not tired yet."

Hinata smiled, "Me neither."

"Wanna stay up with me, Hinata-chan?" Naruto asked, smiling as well. She nodded.

"Sure, Naruto-kun."

Kaori, after hearing her two teammates suddenly opens her eyes, "U-Uh, now that you mention it, I'm not that tired either." She says suddenly, rising up out of bed. Anko holds back a laugh, and Hinata discretely glared at Kaori. Naruto, oblivious to the slight rise in conflict, simply grins.

"Cool. So we can all stay up together." He says. Hinata and Kaori smile slightly before giving each other a quick glance, words unspoken between two girls. At this point, Kurenai and Akamaru were already asleep, and Anko pretended to be asleep, just to eavesdrop on the conversation and be nosey.

Soon, Anko found the conversation between the three genin to be very boring. All they did was talk about boring stuff, like family, training, childhood stories, blah-blah-blah. She soon found it pointless to stay up and decided to take a piss before going to sleep. The kids watched as she got up and walked to the bathroom, then continued among their conversation.

After flushing the toilet, Anko looked out the window and took a glance at the full moon. She could see it more clearly, she realized. Konoha had more lights and a bit more taller buildings than Suna, so it was a bit harder to see the moon and truly appreciate it's beauty through her apartment building.

Suddenly, through her peripheral vision, Anko spotted two figures moving across the Suna rooftops. It was night time, and the two figures were a bit far for her to see them clearly, but she could tell by their silhouettes that one was a tall and slim man, and one was slightly shorter, but equally as slim. She then started noticing that the spot that her Curse Seal was located started itching. Upon looking closer, Anko could barely see that one of the figures had silver hair...

Anko rushed out the bathroom and quickly put on her skirt and coat.

"I'm going to go out for a walk." She quickly told the three genin. They all looked at her questioningly.

"Where ya going?" Naruto asked.

"Out." She replied, heading out the door before anyone else could respond. The three looked at each other, confused.

* * *

As Anko head out of the apartment, she was quick to catch onto the mysterious figures' trail, making note of which direction they were heading before exiting the bathroom. She spotted them, and realized that her hypothesis on who they might be was correct. Her Curse Mark started getting a bit more irritable as she got closer to them. She decided not to confront them, but to just follow them and investigate to find out their business in being here.

Soon, the two figures stopped upon reaching the Kazekage's tower, where Anko kept her distance and hid behind a chiminey atop of a house. They jumped up to where the Kazekage's lookout office was, where one of the intruders knocked on the glass. She saw the Kazekage open the window and allow the two into his office.

_"What would the Kazekage be doing dealing with the likes of him...?"_ Anko wondered to herself. She waited quite a few minutes before hopping up to the Kazekage's window, making sure to make her movements quiet and stealthy to remain hidden and unnoticed. Peeping her head into the window...

She saw Orochimaru slitting the Fourth Kazekage's throat.

It was a bloody sight. There were three guards on the floor, dead, soaking in their own pools of blood. The Kazekage, now dead, laid on the floor as well. He was lifeless, and Orochimaru still had a grin on his face.

Anko felt her heart race a bit. She wanted to confront him so bad. Not because he just killed the leader of Sunagakure no Sato, no, that was none of her business.

She wanted revenge.

Revenge for using her. Treating her like one of his own children... Then just tossing her aside once he saw that she was of no good use to her. Also not to mention the Curse Seal he forced on her as a parting gift, which was burning like hell now that she was so close to him. He was so close, and she knew that she could have a chance at killing him with her own hands, if she timed a surprise attack well enough...

However, Anko knew better. She was not only a citizen of Konoha, but an Elite Jounin. She knew that intel came before pride, and as much as she eagerly wanted to take him out, she knew that she still only had a small chance of succeeding. Especially since his lap dog, Kabuto, was with him. Besides, the smartest thing to do when spying on a much stronger enemy, is to remain unnoticed and give the intel to the Hokage ASAP.

So she waited until she saw Orochimaru seal the body into a scroll, and departed back to the hotel room.

As she entered back into the hotel room, she saw that everyone was asleep. Naruto was on the couch, and Kurenai and Hinata shared a bed while Kaori was alseep and snoring in their shared bed.

Anko just stripped her skirt and coat, crawled into bed, and went to sleep... even though her heart was still racing.


	10. Chapter 10

"Are you sure it was him?" Kurenai murmers, looking forward at her genin team that was in the middle of a three way training spar in the middle of a training grounds in Suna. She was holding Akamaru, since Kurenai wanted Kaori to try not to rely too much on fighting with the nin-pup. Hinata wasn't using her Byakugan and Naruto was without his shadow clones. It was just a basic spar without their special techniques or advantages.

Anko was beside Kurenai, looking along at the spar with her, "Yeah, I am. My Curse Seal was getting irritated by just looking at him." says Anko.

"And what about the guy with silver hair? Who could that be?"

Anko grinned a little bit when Naruto managed to reverse a strike from Hinata and Kaori at the same time, "Do you remember that guy that was an intern working at the hospital?"

Kurenai gave Anko an unsure look that showed that she doesn't recall what she was talking about.

Anko saw this and turned her head to look at her, "Remember when the Hokage made me drag that Chuunin to the hospital, because he was hitting on me and I poked him with a kunai?"

Kurenai snickered, "You threw it deep into his arm, actually. And yes, I remember."

"Well, remember that overly polite guy that showed us to his room?"

Kurenai thought hard for a second. Her eyes then grew wide, "No... That kid's only a genin!"

Anko shrugged, "He must have been using a henge or something, 'cause it was him I saw next to Orochimaru. And he only looked a bit younger than us."

"I think he's been a citizen of Konoha for a few years now... Are you sure that he's an intruder?"

"Are my tits big enough for me to suck them myself?"

"...Um..."

"Yes. The answer is yes, Kure-chan."

Kurenai sighed, "I'm scared to know what constantly goes on in that head of yours, Anko."

Anko chuckled lowly, "Hehe, you should be."

"Alright, alright, I give up..." The two Jounin hear Kaori sigh. She was sitting in the sand, sweat dripping down her face as she tried catching her breath. Hinata was sweating almost as much as she was, however, she was still standing and facing Naruto in her nicely posed Juuken stance. Naruto was more hot than he was tired, and held a confident grin on his face.

"Aw, what's the matter, Kaori-chan? I thought you'd put up more of a fight than that!" Naruto teased. Kaori growled.

"If I wasn't so exhausted, I'd kick your ass." She sighed. "His fucking stamina... Where does he even get it all?" Naruto, in fact, had never even landed one blow on Kaori. Kaori landed about a dozen or more onto him. She grew tired of dodging and blocking attacks from her two teammates, with Hinata landing a few on Kaori. She fought hard, but her stamina had nothing on Naruto's.

"Hehehe... Looks like it's just you and me, Hinata-chan." Naruto says confidently to the girl that has a crush on him. Hinata gave a nervous grin, never having to face Naruto one-on-one like this. She was tired too, almost as much as Kaori. She took a few hits from both teammates, but she was still standing strong.

"So when we get back to the Hokage and tell him what you saw, what do you think he'll do?" Kurenai asks, still looking at the ongoing fight, even though Kaori dropped out. "Cancel the upcoming Chuunin Exams?"

"...Nah." Anko says. "Chuunin Exams are kind of hard to re-schedule, so I doubt that he'll cancel them. If I still know my old sensei, I'd say that he's going to try and impersonate the Fifth Kazekage to intrude Konoha and attack it from the inside once the Chuunin Exams start. He did seal the Kazekage's body in a scroll, after all. And since Orochimaru was the old man's student once upon a time, I'm pretty sure that he'll think the same thing once we tell him." She then shrugs. "So I'm not sure how he's going to react, but I'm sure that he has everything under control."

"Do you think that there will be a war? I mean, Orochimaru probably has a lot of people backing him up on this." Says Kurenai.

Anko chuckles, "Boy, I hope so. I haven't killed someone in over three months." Anko sees Kurenai's look in her direction and laughs, "I'm just kidding. But I'm not sure. Since Orochimaru probably wont have the element of surprise on his side, it may just be a slight turf war, which Konoha will easily dominate."

"N-Naruto-kun, I can't continue..." Hinata mumbles after collapsing onto her knees from exhaustion. "You win."

"YEAH!" He shouts, doing a mini victory dance. "I'm sooo awesome!"

"The only reason why we quit is because we got tired before you did. It's not like you actually beat us." Kaori says, attempting to rain on his parade.

"Actually, Kaori, even in real battle, who ever dies or gives up last is declared the winner. Even if that person didn't land one hit." Kurenai chides in with a smile. "Naruto-kun's stamina might just be his trump card."

Kaori mumbled something about that statement being 'bullshit', "I must've hit him at least a dozen times... How isn't he tired? Where does his stamina come from?"

"All shinobi have a special gift, Kaori. You have your sense of smell, Hinata has her Byakugan, I have my genjutsu, and Anko has her... Fishnet." Kurenai says jokingly, which Anko chuckled in response. "Naruto's stamina is his own gift."

Kurenai and Anko knew that being container of the Kyuubi might be the end result of his stamina, but knew not to mention it until Naruto finds out and decides to tell them.

"Well, I have to say that I'm still impressed, Blondie." Kaori congratulates with a smirk as she stands up and dusts herself off. "You sure know how to take a hit."

"Hehe, thanks!" Naruto beams brightly. His smile was contagious, seeing as everyone around him started smiling as well.

Kaori moves over to Hinata and extends a hand for her to take. Hinata takes her hand and uses it to pull herself up, "Hinata, you lasted longer than I did, too. Maybe we should fight one-on-one soon. Maybe find out who's the better kunoichi." She says with a challenging smirk.

Hinata's response surprised everyone, "I look forward to it, Kaori-chan."

Everyone, save for Naruto himself, wondered if Hinata's response was based on the competition she had for Naruto with Kaori. Kaori and Hinata shared assertive smirks with each other.

"Same here." Kaori finally says.

* * *

Soon, everyone left the open desert field and started back along Suna's streets.

"Hey Blondie, stay still for a minute." Kaori says while walking behind the blonde. Naruto stops walking for a minute and turns his head back toward her.

"Why?"

Kaori jumped on his back.

She wrapped her arms above his shoulders as she held on to him, "Alright, you can keep walking now."

Naruto had a slight blush, never before being so close to his teammate like this; more of in a physical sense. He could smell her. She smelled a bit sweaty from their spar earlier, but it wasn't offensive. She smelled kind of feminine, in fact. "You want me to carry you?"

"Duh," she answered. "I'm still tired from training, and you seem to still have plenty of stamina left in you." She says with a cheesy grin.

Naruto sweat-dropped, "Er, okay then..."

Kaori looked back and smiled at Hinata, sending out a competitive air between the two. Anko, forever being the instigator, had grinned to herself when seeing this.

_"Now the question is, which one will Naruto choose?"_ She thinks to herself.

Hinata watched with envy as Naruto held Kaori's thighs, a victorious smile plastered on her feral, but feminine face. She knew that it was official; they were both fighting for a position as the center of Naruto's eye. But Hinata has become more bold over the past month or so. Her stuttering problem nearly dissolved completely, her blush occurrence is less frequent, she's now less afraid to speak her mind, and she even developed a playful, teasing side that she showed occasionally. All these changes occurred as a result of being around Kaori's, Naruto's, and Anko's presence. Even Kurenai held a bit of a confident air that brushed off against her.

_"Oh, so that's how she want's to play, huh?"_ Hinata's dark side thought with a mental smirk._ "Two can play at this game..."_

Just then, Hinata accidentally bumped into someone passing by them.

"Hey, watch where you're going!" Said the person that bumped into Hinata's shoulder.

"Um, I apologize, I didn't see you there." Says Hinata.

"Hmph, well next time, keep your eyes open... Wait, are you seriously blind...?" Asks the individual after seeing the Hyuuga's trademark, pupil-less eyes. She was blonde, and had her hair in four spiky pigtails. She had green eyes, and a huge fan strapped to her back. The two males beside her had items strapped to their back as well.

One of them sported red short hair, and had a peanut-shaped gourd on his back. The boy's eyes were a light turquoises color, but they resembled those of a racoon's as well. He had a blank, uninterested expression on his face, which looked a bit eerie as well.

The other boy had a black hood-like cap, with pointed tips that resembled cat ears on his head. His outfit was an all black jumpsuit, and his face had purple markings on them in a weird pattern. The item on his back kind of looked like... A body? It was wrapped in bandages, and there was what looked like hair sticking out at the top.

One thing that Team 8 was certain about these people, was that they sure were unique.

Before Hinata could answer, Kaori had already intervened, "No, she's not blind. But what's it to you? It's not like you were watching where you were going, either."

The blonde female looked over at the girl who was hugged up against Naruto's back and sneered, "Hey, I don't think I recall talking to you."

Kaori hopped off of Naruto's back and stepped toward the Suna kunoichi, "Well, I was talking to you. If there's a problem with that, maybe you should do something about it."

The other girl smirked, "Maybe I should."

Right up to the point where Kaori and the Suna girl were in each other's faces, where Kurenai was about to intervene, Hinata had put a hand on Kaori's shoulder, "It's fine, Kaori-san. I can handle this." Kaori looked at her teammate, then back at the blonde. She smirked.

"Fine. I'll tell you one thing; these Suna bitches are pretty bold, I see." With that, Kaori hopped right back onto Naruto's back.

Before anyone else could say anything, the boy with red hair finally spoke up, "Temari, lets go. We don't have time for you to get into your petty disputes with people that aren't even from our village."

Temari hesitated a bit before answering, "Yes, Gaara."

Without any further dialogue, the three Suna nin departed, location unknown.

Not before Temari had looked at Naruto and sent him a flirtatious wink. One that Kaori and Hinata didn't miss, either.

The two girls sneered, "Bitch."

No one was surprised when Kaori had said that word, but everyone nearly had a stroke when they heard Hinata's voice recite that five letter word at the same time Kaori did.

Hinata saw that everyone's eyes were on her, and she blushed. She didn't know what to say; that word just blurted out of her mouth.

Anko's smile grew two times it's usual size that afternoon. "Hinata-chan... I'm starting to like this side of you! A lot!"

Kurenai elbowed Anko in the side of her ribs, "Ugh, look what you're doing. You're corrupting the innocent. As usual." She sighed.

Anko looked at Kurenai with a playful shocked expression, "Me? I didn't do a thing. This is just Hinata blossoming into a beautiful young lady, that's all!" She said proudly, hugging Hinata, who felt a bit awkward.

"Young ladies don't use that kind of language, Anko."

Kaori coughed.

"Er, no offense, Kaori." Kurenai apologized.

"Ah, Hinata-chan here is just learning to express herself more openly! There's nothing wrong with that, is there? Besides, Hinata is practically an adult, she can do and say whatever she wants!" The serpent-lover said enthusiastically, getting Hinata to blush a bit more. "Listen Hinata-chan, don't mind Kurenai, she's just got a few sticks up her ass from not getting laid in a while. You can say whatever you want, whether you wanna say 'bitch' or 'cunt', 'pussy', 'asshole', 'shit-bag', 'fuck-nut', 'dick-"

Anko suddenly started running, with a pissed off Kurenai following, sprinting right behind her. Anko's laughter could be heard within a mile's radius.

Naruto scratched his head, "Um... Well, not like this isn't awkward or anything..."

Kaori turned Naruto's head to face her, almost cracking his neck in the process, "Blondie, do you have feelings for that Suna skank?"

Naruto blinked, "Wait, what?"

Hinata jumped in, "Do you think she's attractive, Naruto-kun?"

"Uh..." Naruto mumbled.

"Do you have a thing for other blondes, Blondie?"

"Why are-?"

"Do you like anyone from Konoha?"

"W-Well, I-"

"Would you fuck her?"

"E-Excuse me-?"

"Is she prettier than me, Naruto-kun?"

"Uh, no, of course n-"

"Who would you rather fuck? One of us? Or her?"

"W-Whoa, where are these questions coming fr-?"

"I don't think she likes you, Naruto-kun."

"T-That's-"

"She looks dirty, Blondie. Like she doesn't clean her vag."

"...Ew?"

"I don't think dating women from other villages is legal in Konoha."

"O-Okay-?"

"You know, blondes are more likely to become a slut than normal women."

"H-How-?"

"Did you wink back at her, Naruto-kun?"

"N-"

"Yes, you did! I saw you!"

At this point, Naruto pulled an 'Anko' and started running away from his two jealous teammates. Hinata and Kaori were right on his tail, not giving him any time to breath.

"Get back here and tell us the truth!"

"The fuck are you running for, Blondie? Are you running to chase some blonde Suna ass? Hm?"

Naruto finally came to one conclusion that afternoon:

Women are fucking psycho.


	11. Chapter 11

Eventually, the two female members of Squad Eight caught up to the knucklehead blonde. Naruto's clever attempt to throw them off using shadow clones had failed, due to Kaori tracking the original Naruto by his scent. Hinata had used her Byakugan, but couldn't discern the real Naruto amongst his clones.

Kaori had tackled him in the middle of the street, and Hinata stood right beside them.

Kaori straddled him, holding his hands above his head, "Gotcha!"

"What do you want from me?!" Naruto begged as people walking up and down the road started to stare.

"Do you like that Suna skank, Blondie?" Kaori asked.

Naruto could have chosen the correct one word answer that would have gotten Kaori off of his case, but...

"What do you care?! How would it matter if I do or not?"

"Because we just want to know." Hinata spoke.

"Why?"

"Because."

"WHY?!"

Kaori got up off of him and dusted herself off casually. She then grins, "No reason. We just wanted to bug you." Hinata hesitantly nodded and played along.

Naruto sweatdropped and got up, dusting himself off as well, "I have a hard time believing that's the only reason..." Naruto mumbles. Kaori simply chuckles. "And for the record, I don't like her. I don't know her enough to like her."

"Good." Kaori and Hinata said lowly.

Naruto raised an eyebrow as they both started walking.

_"What do you two mean by 'Good'?"_

* * *

Soon, the trio ended up back into their hotel room, with Anko and Kurenai entering not too soon after.

Anko smiled, "It's always good to get some cardiovascular exercise in, eh Kure-chan?"

"Piss off." Kurenai hisses playfully, making Anko laugh. She then turns toward her team. "And guys, I have to say that I'm very impressed with your progress as shinobi and kunoichi. I'm glad to see that your skills are growing this much compared to how you guys started in the beginning."

The Genin nodded in appreciation.

"So maybe we can beat you in a spar now, eh Sensei?" Kaori asks with a grin.

"Heh, maybe if I didn't use Genjutsu... And had my arms tied behind my back." She replies, mimicking Kaori's smirk. Kaori had nothing else to say, as she rolled her eyes.

"And I'll be training you guys more on Genjutsu when we get back home, too. You guys seem pretty decent when it comes to Ninjutsu and Taijutsu."

Her students nodded.

"Alright, so it's still early, and I don't plan on staying in this room for the rest of the day till we leave." Anko says.

"So, I'm assuming you have something in mind?" Kurenai says with an all knowing smirk.

"You know me way too well." Anko says. "Yes, I do have something in mind. I wanna see how the local pool is here, so if you guys wanna tag along, it's up to you."

"I'll go!" Naruto says.

"I'll go, too." Says Hinata.

"I could use a swim." Kaori adds.

"I think we all could. I'm in the mood for a good swim, too." Says Kurenai.

"Then it's settled. Now we just have to go buy bathing suits!" Anko cheers.

* * *

After they bought their bathing outfits, they went back to the hotel and changed into them. Naruto's consisted of a pair of orange swimming trunks. Kaori's, Hinata's, and Kurenai's bathing suits were all one piece suits, with Kurenai's being red, Hinata's being navy blue, and Kaori's being a darker red. Anko, on the other hand, bought a black two piece bikini, that showed off her shapely breasts and butt. Kurenai and Kaori were not surprised. Hinata wasn't shocked either, but still had a blush spreading through her cheeks. Naruto, on the other hand... His nosebleed almost stained the carpet.

"Geez Blondie, work out once in a while, huh? You're so scrawny." Kaori commented. Naruto gives her a stale face.

"Oh, sorry for not being a bodybuilder at the age of 13." He replied sarcastically. "That's like me telling you to grow a bigger chest."

Kurenai, Anko, and Hinata all held shocked faces, as they looked at Kaori to see her reaction. They weren't expecting him to have such a big comeback!

Kaori's facial expression was unreadable.

"...True." She finally replies with a shrug. "You do have a good point there, Naruto."

Everyone else was even more shocked. They all thought Naruto was about to die.

"But I'll only say this one time, Blondie. Make any crack about my chest being flat in the future, and I swear I'll shove your dick so far into your ass, you'll be the only person that'll be able to piss into his own stomach." Kaori adds stoically.

Anko chuckled as Naruto gulped, "R-Roger that..."

* * *

Soon, Anko, Kurenai, and the three lower class shinobi arrived at Suna's local pool area. It wasn't empty, but it wasn't anywhere near full. It was borderline perfect.

"Last one in is a rotten egg!" Naruto shouts before doing a cannonball into the water. Anko and Kaori followed in right after. Hinata and Kurenai simply walked up to the pool and sat on the edge, dipping their feet into the water. It was the perfect temperature.

"Not the type to jump in like the rest of them, huh?" Kurenai says to Hinata. Hinata shakes her head.

"Nah, I'll jump in when I'm ready." She says. Kurenai nods.

"Come on, Hinata-chan!" Naruto shouts, his yellow bangs dripping with water as he submerged from under it. "Jump in, the water's perfect!"

Kaori then peers from the water behind him.

"Gaaahh!" He shouts when Kaori tackles him from behind, putting him back under the water along with her.

Kurenai laughs, "Looks like they're having fun."

Hinata looks forward, with a small forced smile, "Yeah, I guess they are."

Kurenai can see right through her fake smile. She looks at Hinata with a pitying smile, "You really like him, don't you?"

Hinata looks at Kurenai in response to the question, looks down a bit, and simply nods.

Kurenai puts a comforting hand on Hinata's shoulder, "Well, Naruto's a great guy, and I can see you two ending up together in the future. But that'll never happen if you don't show him that you're interested."

Hinata sighs, "I know, but..."

"But you're shy. Whenever you're near Naruto, you get butterflies in your stomach, to where all your words get caught in your throat. You wanna tell him everything you feel about him, but your body wont physically let you do that, right?"

Hinata looks at Kurenai, surprised, "Y-Yeah, that's it exactly... How do you know that's how I feel?"

Kurenai smiles, "Hinata, you remind me a lot of me when I was your age. I used to be just like you; timid, shy, afraid to portray my true emotions... It's like whenever I look at you, I feel like I'm looking in a mirror 15 years in the past. And when I was a Genin, I had a crush as well." She says.

"Really?"

"Yeah. And just like you, I really liked him. Whenever I was near him, I'd blush like crazy. And if he were to ever talk to me, forget about it, I'd be close to passing out." She chuckles. "All I wanted was for him to ask me to be his girlfriend, but since I didn't tell him how I felt, it never happened."

"I see..." Hinata says. "Do you still like him?"

"Nah, that was just a little crush I had because I was a kid. He and I are still friends though. In fact, you might know him."

Hinata raises an eyebrow, "Huh?"

"Yep. Have you ever heard of a man named Hatake Kakashi?"

Hinata thought for a minute, "No... Not really. I think I heard my father say his name once or twice."

Kurenai shrugged, looking on at Anko, who joined in on Kaori's and Naruto's play wrestle, "Well, he's a Jounin like me, but we're only good friends." Kurenai chuckles again, "It's funny, because I also competed for his heart with another girl, just like how you are with Kaori."

"Really?"

"Mm-hmm. Wanna know who it was?"

"Sure."

Kurenai grinned and pointed at the lady who had Naruto in a tight bear hug. Hinata followed where she was pointing and gasped.

"A-Anko-sensei?"

Kurenai nodded, "Yep. She liked Kakashi, as did I. I really didn't like her at all back in those days." She says with a small laugh. "But those days are behind us, and I love Anko like the sister I never wanted."

"So... Does Anko still like Kakashi?" Hinata asks.

"Kinda... She likes him, but she doesn't like him."

Hinata made a face that showed she wasn't sure what she meant.

Kurenai elaborated, "She still likes Kakashi, but she doesn't like him like she used to. It's more of just a physical attraction of sorts." Hinata nodded, but still wasn't very sure. "She doesn't really want to be a couple with him, all she wants to do is... Kiss him." Kurenai stopped herself, almost telling Hinata the adult version of when two adults lust after each other. She knows that Hinata was now legally an adult, having grasped her Hitai-ate, but Kurenai saw that she still seemed a bit wet behind the ears, and didn't know how she would react about such a... blatant discussion.

"Ohh... Do you think Kaori likes Naruto-kun in such a way?"

"I'm not sure. It's hard to tell from my perspective." Kurenai answers. Hinata nods and looks down.

Kurenai was about to say something, when a splash of water landed atop of Hinata. The raven-haired princess squeals in shock.

"Hey, Hinata-chan! Come on in, you're missing out!" Says the blonde with a big smile.

Kurenai smiles, "You should go."

Hinata smiles faintly and jumps in the pool with the rest of her team.

Kurenai frowns a bit once Hinata was in the pool, _"Way to go Kurenai, you're contradicting yourself. Soon, I'm going to have to teach her, well, all of them... That these petty little crushes can distract them and possibly get them killed in the line of duty. They are shinobi, after all, not high school students._

_***Meanwhile***_

"No, Ino-pig, you're doing it wrong!"

"Forehead, you're the one that didn't last as long as I did!"

Kakashi, who actually had to put away his Icha Icha Paradise to tend to his two female students sweatdropped.

"Um, if it helps settle your argument, you both didn't last very long. You both fell at the same time." He tells them.

"No, Forehead Girl fell first!"

"No, you did, Pig!"

Kakashi sweatdropped as Sasuke, who had already completed the tree climbing exercise, popped a vein on his forehead.

"Does it matter though? Neither of you have completed the exercise, unlike Sasuke, who did it in around 3 hours." The cyclops Jounin states. Ino and Sakura looked at each other and growled as they continued bickering silently, but quickly grew in volume.

Kakashi sighed, "If I were my sensei, what would he do?"

As he pondered this, thinking of the love triangle he went through in his younger days, he gets an idea.

Kakashi walks toward a sitting Sasuke, and bends his knees enough so that they're meeting eye to eye. As Sasuke glimpses at his sensei, he sees Kakashi's lone eye forming an upside-down 'U' shape.

"Hey, there."

"..." Sasuke continues to look at him, but raises an eyebrow.

"What do you want?" He asks after a bit of silence. Well, silence between them; Ino and Sakura were still arguing.

"I have a proposition for you that'll make your life and my life a bit easier as far as training goes."

"Does it involve them?" Sasuke grunts, motioning toward the blonde and pinkette.

"You catch on quick, don't you?" Kakashi says with a light chuckle.

"Then forget it." Sasuke says. "Those two... Are annoying. All they're doing is slowing down my training."

"Yes, I know. And that's exactly what this proposition is about."

Sasuke shows mild signs of interest.

"Just hear me out. I believe you know that Ino and Sakura are quite... endeavored with you, correct?"

Sasuke nods.

"And I know you're not interested in the idea of entertaining them-"

"Get to the point." Sasuke says lowly.

"Alright. What I want you to do is tell them that you're interested in a strong kunoichi that takes her training seriously." Kakashi smiles, "That's it."

Sasuke scoffs, "Do you really think that'll work? They're still going to annoy me either way." He grumbled. "Besides, I'm not interested in any type of woman. Real shinobi don't let petty things like love distract them of whats important."

"Well actually, I agree." Kakashi said, "But that's the only solution I could think of at the moment. You've already been telling them you're not interested for a while now, I can see. So maybe if you, their main obsession, told them what you wanted, you can manipulate that and turn them into kunoichi that'll not only benefit you, but everyone on the team."

Sasuke thinks for a minute before sighing and standing to his feet, "I guess its worth a shot."

Kakashi smiles as Sasuke walks over to his two biggest fans, _"I might not need Kurenai after all."_

"Hey." Sasuke calls to them, his hands in his pockets. Ino currently had Sakura in a headlock as they were arguing, but both girls immediately stifled themselves and stopped moving once they heard his voice. They were just staring at him, frozen in shock.

"...Ohmagod, Sakura?"

"Yeah?"

"Sasuke-kun said something to us... And he's actually staring at us this time..."

"Are we dreaming, Ino?"

"I dunno..."

Throughout that dialogue, Ino and Sakura had their eyes glued on Sasuke.

They weren't even blinking.

Sasuke sighed, "Listen... I want to talk to you two about something."

... Sakura and Ino fainted.

Kakashi hung his head.


	12. Chapter 12

Team Eight and Anko had spent the day at the pool, having fun, laughing, enjoying each others' company. Even Kurenai had fun, constantly having to remind herself that she's a trained kunoichi with a Genin squad that has to be looked over.

The team departed the village at sunset. The gang packed their bags and left hardly any evidence that they had spent the night in Sunagakure.

The weather was the perfect temperature, not too hot, not too cold. However, everyone knew that pretty soon that the temperature was going to drop.

Before leaving, Kurenai, Anko, and the rest of the Genin had bought more blankets and heavier clothing.

"Well, that was fun." Anko said, a content smile on her face as she stretched. "I never had this much fun on a mission with Genin."

Kurenai chuckled, "I don't think we're supposed to have as much fun as we did on a mission like this. It is a mission, not a field trip."

"It might as well be." Kaori chided in. "The mission was so boring, all we had to do was deliver a piece of paper. We all could have done this mission individually." She scoffed.

"Well, not all missions contain conflict and drama, Kaori." Kurenai said in her motherly-like tone. "Some missions are simple, as some are extremely complicated. I guess we lucked out on an easy C-rank." She told her with a smile.

Kaori snorted, "'Lucked out', my ass. I want to fight." She said simply.

Kurenai hesitated before saying something, "That reminds me... None of you have killed before, correct?"

The Genin paused at hearing Kurenai ask them this, giving her their direct attention. None of them verbally replied, they simply shook their heads.

Kurenai studied them, "I see..."

"Why do you ask, sensei?" Hinata asked, not particularly liking the change in atmosphere.

Their sensei sighed, "Because... There's something I have to make you guys do before you can promote your ranks as shinobi..."

Anko looked at Kurenai. Kurenai looked at Anko. Once Kurenai nodded to the look Anko gave her, Anko closed her eyes and chuckled.

"Boy, this will be interesting." Anko muttered before whistling a happy tune as they continued walking through the sand.

"What do you mean, sensei?" Naruto asks, noting Kurenai's expression.

"Um," Kurenai muttered, thinking about how she'll break the news to her team. She finally decided that being straight forward was what's best.

"I'm going to be straight forward... Before you guys can promote to Chuunin, I have to make you guys kill someone."

Kaori, Hinata, and Naruto had gone silent, letting her words sink in to their ears and into their brain.

"K-Kill someone...?" Hinata whimpered. Her shy persona was back, everyone noticed. Kurenai nodded slowly.

"Well... That's only natural. We're shinobi. The first and most important rule of being a ninja was that we have to be prepared to kill or die in the sake of our village." Kaori stated.

"Yes, exactly." Kurenai said. The Genin noticed how her expression still didn't change, "But it gets a little more complicated than that."

"How so?" Asked Kaori. Kurenai and Anko noted how Naruto was uncharacteristically silent. He was actually sitting back and listening for once.

"You see..." Kurenai started before taking a deep breath. She then sighed, "Never mind. I'll tell you guys when we get back to he village. It's going to be a long explanation, and now isn't the right time to talk about it."

"What the hell?" Kaori exclaimed, "Why not tell us now that you brought it up?"

Kurenai looked at her, "Because, I forgot where we are for a moment. We're out in the middle of the desert in Wind Country, and currently on a mission. Our attention is supposed to be focused solely on the mission, no ifs, ands, or buts."

Kaori groaned, "Way to keep the suspension up. Now we're all going to be wondering what you mean for the rest of the journey home."

"I know," Kurenai replied. "I apologize. Just act as if I didn't say anything."

The rookies of Squad Eight all looked at each other, before chatting amongst themselves, trying to forget about what Kurenai had said, despite how curious they were.

Anko got closer to Kurenai, whispering so that the younger generation behind them wouldn't hear, "You're slipping, Kure-chan."

"I know," Kurenai replied. "I'm still a little new to this whole teaching thing."

* * *

Soon, dusk approached, and the temperature was dropping fast. Everyone began to take out the heavy, loose, and hooded clothing that they bought from Suna prior to leaving.

"Shit, you weren't joking about it getting cold..." Kaori said to Kurenai as she clenched onto her hooded jacket that didn't provide as much warmth as she wanted.

"I warned you." Kurenai said back, shivering herself. She wore a jacket similar to Kaori's. Everyone wore identical cotton-made jackets, which helped their bodily temperatures slightly, but not enough for comfort.

... Aside from Anko.

Naruto looked at the Tokubestu Jounin. She was wearing the same thing she wore when leaving the village. She seemed unfazed by the climate, whistling happily as she walked casually with hands behind her head.

She wasn't even wearing her usual trench coat.

"Uh, Anko-sensei?" Naruto called.

"Yes, Naruto-kun?"

"Are you... insane?"

Anko chuckled, "Probably. I've been called that on a number of occasions." She looked at him with a smile, "Why do you ask?"

"Because, you're practically in your underwear, when the rest of us are freezing our asses off with these heavy clothes on..." He said flatly. "... What's wrong with you?"

Anko laughed, as if Naruto told a funny joke. "Why, nothing is wrong with me, Naruto-kun!" She said, wrapping an arm around his shoulders. Naruto had to admit that he liked the contact, it was helping him keep warm a little.

"So why the fuck aren't you wearing any clothes?" Kaori asked, annoyed. She could hear her teeth clicking. She was insanely jealous of Akamaru, who was deep inside both of her jackets, keeping warm even as he had fur to help him do that.

"Anko's cold-blooded." Kurenai spat, making everyone look at her weirdly.

"C-Cold-blooded?" Hinata repeated. She was the coldest out of all of them, having being the thinnest and smallest size out of everyone.

"You're joking, right?" Kaori asked flatly. Anko grinned even wider.

"Nope, Kure-chan's pretty spot on."

"...How." Kaori said in the flattest of tones. She didn't even say it in the form of a question, she said it in a manner that sounded like Anko and Kurenai insulted her intelligence.

"Anko has a summoning contract with snakes." Kurenai began. "She learned a jutsu from them that allowed her to become as cold-blooded as a reptile."

Hinata and Naruto stared at Kurenai funny, "... Summoning contract? Whats that?" Naruto asked.

"Oh, I forgot that they don't teach that in the academy." Kurenai said. "The Summoning Technique is a Ninjutsu that allows a shinobi to transport animals across long distances instantly."

"Huh? That sounds cool!" Naruto said. Before he could rant anything about wanting to learn it, Anko happily elaborated.

"Before an animal summoning can be performed, a shinobi has to sign a contract with a given species beforehand. The contract comes in the form of a scroll which the contractor uses their own blood to sign their name and place their fingerprints on once they're done."

Anko reached into a storage scroll and showed her snake summoning contract to him and Hinata. She laid it flat on the ground and opened it, exposing the written print inside, "After this, he or she only needs to offer an additional donation of blood on the hand they signed the contract with, like so,"

Anko bit her right thumb, blood slowly dripping down from her wound and smeared a line of it onto the contract.

"Uh, Anko...?" Kurenai said apprehensively. Anko continued on, as if she didn't hear her.

"Then they have to mold their chakra with hand seals and then plant the hand they signed the contract with right in the middle of it like so," Anko cracked her knuckles then went through a few hand seals before slamming her hand down onto the contract.

"The amount of chakra used during the summoning determines how powerful the summoned creature can be." She told them with a sly smirk.

Hinata was fascinated, but no where near as much as Naruto.

"So... How much chakra are you using right now?" He asked.

"None. This was just a demonstration." Anko said, much to the relief of Kurenai. "As much as I'd love to show you one of my summonings, I don't think this is the right time."

Naruto frowned slightly.

Anko then looked around, and a silly, exaggerated smile slapped across her face. A face that Kurenai learned to fear over the years.

"Aww, what the hell! We're out in the middle of nowhere I guess I can show you guys!"

Kurenai's eyes widened as Naruto beamed.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

"Wait, Anko, no-!

**_POOF!_**

"Ugh." Kurenai sighed. "Such a great kunoichi when in serious situations, but no self-restraint in everyday situations..."

She looked at the huge reptile that summoned directly in front of Anko. The thing had to be at least 200 feet long. It wasn't as big as Manda, who was the baddest of the bad when it came to snakes, but it wasn't too far from it. It was a tan-colored snake, with black and brown spots going down its body.

"WHAT THE FUCK?" Naruto shouted at the top of his lungs, almost getting squished from the reptile as it got summoned. Hinata was just as shocked, but nowhere near as loud.

Anko smiled widely, "Guys, meet my favorite summoning, Kora."

Naruto had to look way up at the sky just to see the summoning's face.

**"Anko-sama, nice of you to kindly interrupt me from my slumber."** Kora says in an annoyed, drowzy tone. Her voice was feminine, but had plenty of bass in it.

"... Of course it talks, too..." Naruto sweatdrops.

Kurenai sighs again before looking at Kaori, "You don't seem suprised."

Kaori shrugs, "Eh, some of my family can perform summonings, so I learned about and seen them for myself a few years ago."

"Sorry, Kora-chan. I wanted you to mee a few friends of mine." Anko says, pointing at the Uzumaki, Hyuuga, and Inuzuka. "Of course, you've met Kurenai before."

"Hi, Kora." Kurenai greeted unenthusiastically, still a bit unsettled from Anko's spontaneousness.

"Kora-chan, meet Naruto," Naruto waved, without changing his facial expression. He was still quite overwhelmed.

"Kaori," Kaori nods.

"And Hinata." Hinata shakily waves her hand, her nerves unsettled from both the climate and witnessing the size of Anko's favorite summoning.

**"Nice to meet you."** Kora says. She then sets her reptile eyes on Naruto and Hinata. **"First time seeing a summoning?"**

Naruto and Hinata both had slightly gaping mouths, but nodded to Kora's question.

Anko chuckled, "Thats all I really summoned you for. I wanted to show the team how a summoning was performed."

**"You could have done that without actually summoning me."** Kora stated. **"And showing off one of the biggest snakes in all of existance for them to see their very first summoning might just mess up their nerves a bit."**

"That's what I said." Kurenai sighed.

Anko only chuckled, a child-like grin spreading on her face, "They'll be fine. Anyway, if you want to resume your slumber, you can. I didn't mean to disturb you."

**"Yeah, yeah, yeah..."** Kora rolled her eyes, before vanishing in another puff of smoke.

"So, what'd you guys think?" Anko asked the Genin.

"She's friendly." Kaori said.

"She's... Huge..." Hinata murmured.

"She's... AWESOME!" Naruto bursts. "Oh man, you gotta teach me how to do that, Anko-sensei!"

Anko laughed and ruffled a hand through his hair, "I'll consider it."

Anko could practically feel Kurenai's glare burning a hole through her head.

The Snake Mistress chuckled again, "Just kidding, Kure-chan would approve of no such thing." Naruto frowned. "Besides, I doubt you'll like snakes. Most of them aren't as friendly as Kora."

"And there's also the fact that summoning can consume a lot of chakra." Kurenai added.

Anko nodded, "That's right. Summoning Kora took probably more than half of my overall chakra reserves."

"But I have plenty of chakra! I probably have more than you and Kurenai-sensei!" He exclaimed.

"We wont argue that, Naruto-kun. It still amazes me how that's even possible." Kurenai told him. "But you have almost no chakra control. All of that chakra and no control into a summoning can go wrong really fast." She added before he could brag or boast any further.

"Aw... Such a buzz kill." Naruto pouted, crossing his arms.

"Sorry Naruto-kun, but that's reality." Kurenai responded before she resumed walking, signaling for the rest of the team to resume as well.

Anko wrapped an arm around Naruto again and lined her lips up to his ear, "Don't worry, maybe once you become a little older, I'll consider letting you sign the snake summoning contract. Don't tell, Kure-chan." Anko whispered, making Naruto smile goofily.

"Anko, I'm gonna kick your ass." Kurenai said without even looking back at her.

Anko laughed, "What did I do?" She asked innocently.

* * *

The next day, the team had reached Konoha. The rest of the trip there was pretty uneventful, aside from the usual antics from the members there. They had set up camp a bit after stepping out of the desert and continued their journey in the morning.

It was now noon, and they stepped through the main gates of their home village and all smiled. Kotetsu and Izumo, the entrance guards nodded to Anko and Kurenai, who nodded back.

"Well, good job on todays mission, team." Kurenai says.

"Even though we didn't do shit?" Kaori muttered.

"Hush. Anyway, Anko and I are going to send the reports to the Hokage. You guys have the rest of the day off." Kurenai tells them. At her students' nods, she places a hand on Anko's shoulder and they both vanish in a puff of smoke.

"At least it was better than doing stupid D-ranks." Naruto says. Kaori shrugs in agreement.

"So what do you guys wanna do? We have the whole day off, and it's still early." Kaori asks.

"I'm starving! How about we go get some of Ichiraku's?" Naruto offers.

Kaori grins, "Then back to the Inuzuka compound?"

Naruto and Hinata smile, "Sounds like a plan!" Naruto says.

* * *

Hiruzen Sorutobi was busy, up to his throat in paperwork when suddenly a knock on his office door caught his attention.

"Enter." He said. The door opened and in walked Anko and Kurenai.

"Ah, Kurenai and Anko. I assume everything went well for your team's first C-rank?"

"Yes," Kurenai responded. "The scroll has been delivered successfully."

"Excellent." He says. He then reaches into one of his drawers in his desk. "Here's your and your team's payment for the mission." He hands her an envelope.

"Thank you, Hokage-sama."

He nods, but notes Anko's and Kurenai's expressions, "Did something happen during the mission? Are your students alright?"

"Yes, they are fine. However, Anko has some very vital intel regarding Orochimaru."

Sorutobi's eyes widen just a bit in interest. He looks at Anko.

"Please, explain."

* * *

"I see... And you're sure you saw him eliminate the Fourth Kazekage?"

"Positive." Anko answers, "He slit his throat, killed all his bodyguards, and sealed his body. Not exactly in that order."

"This is a surprise... I would have never expected Orochimaru to do such a thing. But then again, it is Orochimaru we're talking about." He mumbles, deep in thought.

"What do you think are his intentions?" Kurenai asks.

The Third Hokage of The Hidden Leaf Village is deep in thought. It takes him a minute before he answers, "The Chuunin Exams are going to take place in around three weeks. My guess would be that he intends to impose as the Kazekage before and during the Chuunin exams until he decides to invade us."

"That's exactly what we thought." Kurenai states.

"But he should know that not even all of Suna is enough to take down Konoha." Says Hiruzen.

"I think he has a trick or two up his sleeves." Anko says. "He must have more people than that backing him up on this. Possibly some of his _experiments_ that shared a similar fate as me are under his rule, too."

"This is true..." He says rubbing his chin. "And knowing him, he probably still has more tricks up his sleeves than that."

"Such as?" Asks Anko.

"I'm not sure. But I know my ex-student, and I know he's full of surprises." He says, making Anko nod in agreement.

"Out of curiousity... What do you plan to do, Hokage-sama?" Kurenai asks. "Are you going to cancel the Chuunin Exams?"

"No, the Chuunin Exams are a bit difficult to cancel on such short notice, and I doubt the Daimyo would approve of such a thing."

"Not even if we tell them that Orochimaru assassinated the Kazekage?" Kurenai asked in a bit of surprise.

"Well... They might. But the main reason why I'm not considering cancelling the exams is because it would show the other countries that we're afraid, and Konoha is anything but." Kurenai was about to say something when Sorutobi held up a hand to silence her. "I'm aware that a confrontation will spark during the exams, and people may die. However, this can avoid other confrontations from other countries in the future. Once any other country sees a sign of weakness in us, they wont hesitate to attack."

Kurenai was about to say something, but decided against it.

"I know you're concerned, Kurenai." He says sympathetically. "But I'm the Hokage and I'm prepared for a moment like this. During the exams, I'll have heavy security and surveillance disclosed everywhere around the village. I'll make sure that we're keeping an eye out on anything suspicious."

Anko and Kurenai nodded.

"And here," Their leader reaches into a desk drawer again, "Take this." He says with a smile.

Kurenai and Anko both have widened eyes at what was being held out to them. Anko was the first to take it from the hand being held out to her and count it. "... Two million ryu?" She asks incredulously.

Kurenai's eyes widened even more as she looked at the Hokage. He chuckles and nods, gesturing for her to take the wad of currency from him. "That was S-ranked intel that you both shared with me. Almost Double S." He smiles. "This is the least I could do."

"T-Thank you, Hokage-sama!" Kurenai says, shocked at how much money she was earning. She takes the money and immediately bows in respect. Anko follows her gesture right after.

"No, thank you. It's good to see I have such hard working and trustworthy kunoichi at my command."

Anko and Kurenai bowed before their leader again, "Anything to serve for you and our village, Hokage-sama." They say simultaneously.


End file.
